Christian cults!

Question Text:   Is New Testament Church(USA)/The Pentecostal Mission(India)/Ceylon Pentecostal Mission(Sri Lanka)/Universal Pentecostal Church(UK) a christian cult organization or a good doctrinal Church?

Answer Text:  Any group which claims to be exclusively God`s people and who claim that no one else other than they who belong to that group will ever be saved, is to be considered a cult. If that is what those groups which you mentioned teach, then it is best to avoid them. God has not given authority to any human agency to be His agents here on earth. Any one, any where who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom.10:13). That clearly is the teaching of the Scriptures. One need not associate oneself with a particular human group to be able to do that. While salvation is a free gift based on the atoning work of Christ (Rom.3:24) which is to be received by faith alone (Eph.2:8), our status in heaven depends on what we do with the least of the commandments of the Word (Mt.5:19). So each of us must make sure that we call upon the name of God through Christ our Lord and walk in His path as found in His Word. One must also make sure that one is associated with a group of people who are trying to do the same. No denominational teaching is ever found in the New Testament. In the book of Acts God`s people came together to worship and then went out to witness. Local group of believers were led by a group of elders. We do NOT read about ONE PASTOR for one church in the New Testament. We do not read about local bodies of believers coming together to form an organization with elected officials to guide them.   Where in the New Testament do we read about Central Pastors or Bishops who have sway over several churches in a geographical area?    These are all man made additions and we need to be careful not to fall prey to such traps of the devil. I wonder why many ignore the New Testament teaching about the independence of local assemblies of God`s people as found in the New Testament! I wonder why many would dare to name a group and make them to be exclusively the saved ones! If we are to believe what the Bible teaches about the triune-ness of Godhead and all other doctrines, on what ground are we allowed to reject the doctrine of the `church` as taught in the New Testament? May the Lord save us from falling into the pit of the devil. May His name alone be glorified through us. Amen.

 

Bindi (Hindu mark of respect) and Christian believer.

Queston text:  Is wearing Bindi(Mostly Indian women wear on middle of forehead) wrong in christianity? Give us bibilical answer please.

Answer text:

Indian culture is very much influenced by the Indian religion. In fact, it is very difficult to separate Indian culture from its religion. Most of the cultural practices are based on some religious concepts. Bindi is no exception. It was originally given by the poojaries as a mark of approval after idols were worshipped. Though Bindi today has become just a beauty spot, originally it has had its religious implications. Now to answer your question whether it is right for a Christian believer to use it, you need to see it in this light. We are commanded in the Bible that no relics of idolatry is to be brought home lest we be cursed(Dt.7:25,26). Read what the Psalmist would say about other gods in Psa.16:4. God hates idolatry and worship of other gods because it destroys the worshipper and takes the worshipper away from God for time and for eternity. So no trace of idolatry is to be found any where near the child of God. God bless!

 

Changing Name to Follow Christ

Question Text: There is a recent convert to Christ out of Islam and he feels that he needs to change his name and I am urging him not to. He lives in Yemen and I feel it would put his life in danger and I feel that he can be a testimony for the Lord with a Muslim name. Can you give me some advice to share with him, please. Thanks, Ralph

Answer Text:  It is true that God has changed the names of a few people in the Bible.  Notable ones are Abraham and Jacob in the Old Testament and Peter in the New Testament.  But if we were to look at the names of the New Testament, majority of them, yes indeed,  very few ever changed their own names,  I can give you dozens of examples of pure Greek and Roman names which have no religious significance at all.  For example the name Philip  means ‘lover of horse’.  Luke means light etc.  Please look through all the NT names and you will hardly find any one who changed their names.  God changed the names of a few only and the number of those whose names were changed could be easily counted on fingers while numerous names are found in the NT.  So God does not require a name change if some one was to follow Christ.  Look at it this way.  Some one with a Muslim name can go as a Muslim and be accepted as such in the society.  And it gives an opportunity for him to witness personally to all who will come into contact with him.  But if he changes his name and accepts a  so-called Christian name (remember that there are no christian names.  They were either Jewish, Greek or Roman names of people who followed Christ), he is likely to be isolated from society and some times he is in the danger of getting killed for openly challenging their age old tradition.    Our Lord taught us that a little leaven leavens the whole lump and we all know that leaven does not remain isolated in the lump to perform its function.  Again, we are the salt of the earth.  As long as salt remains isolated it can not savor food.  May your friend see this truth and may he continue to be known by his original name as name is not what makes a person a Christian but his faith and His inner character.  God bless.

 

Casting Out Demons!

 

Question Text:  How is it possible that people from different religions drive out demons in the name of other gods? Exorcism is performed by many people today of various religions and beliefs.  Jesus said that Satan could not be against Satan.

 Answer Text:  You have given a very good and a very practical question. As you said, there are people in various religions who are able to ‘cast out devils’ form possessed people. It really looks contradictory to what Jesus said in Mt.12:26. So how shall we understand this situation? Have you ever witnessed some one other than a follower of Christ casting out demons from possessed people? If there is ever a chance, you must go and witness it for yourself. They never ever cast out using some one’s name or authority. They do it own their own power or in the power of the one in whom they work with, often torturing the possessed person. No demon ever goes out if some one tells them to get out from the possessed person in the name any man or any gods.

For example, no one can tell the demon, “I command you in the name of Hitler to get out of that person” or even to say, “I command you in the name of any god/s to come out”. They actually use force for casting out demons. And all that they can do is to keep the demons in the possessed persons under suppression. Demons are still in the possessed persons but they won’t exhibit their presence fearing the ones who suppressed them or “cast them out”.

This I know from my experience. I had a person brought to me who was possessed and was suffering for long years. The person suffering was the mother of three kids and the youngest was an infant. When she got possessed, she would fall flat irrespective of the place where she is. Being a tea leaves plucker in an estate, while engaged in the work she would fall flat and exhibit signs like that of an epileptic patient. She had fallen like this while cooking and at other times. But since her case was one of black magic and the demons could not even be suppressed by several Hindu poojaries and others. Finally, she was brought to me as a preacher of the gospel.

The demons were fooling me at first. Whenever I was with them, she would be normal and when ever I came out of their house demons would come back with more force and give more trouble. This went of for more than a week and I did not know what to do, that being my first ever exposure to a demon possessed person. Then I went and consulted a senior brother who told me a tremendous secret. This is the secret which helps all other exorcists to do their job. When a person is possessed, if we catch hold of that person, we are in fact catching hold of the demons who have possessed that person. Till we keep our hold on that person, demons are in our hands. If we torture the possessed person, the demons get tortured. If we have the mental stamina to face demons in this way, any strong person can suppress demons. And mostly exorcists use the power of their god/s to suppress demons in a possessed person.

When I learnt this secret, I fasted and prayed the whole of the following day I went and brought that person under possession and caught hold of the demons and that was the end of it. They started shivering like leaves in wind and promised never to come back to that person again as I commanded them in the name of Christ.

I hope you got the answer to your question. Others do not cast out using any name. They suppress demons by force, often by torturing them. Sometimes demons leave the person fearing torture but mostly they remain suppressed. You can read my interesting conversation with the demons from http://mathewpaul.org/tag/evil-spirits/ . Only at the name of Christ every knee shall bow. To His name be all glory. Amen

 

The Bible and Dowry!

Question Text:  Is it Biblical to ask Dowry and what is the basis for Dowry system which we see in the Christian Circle today?  I hope you will give me a bible based answer.  Thanks.

Answer Text:  Your question begs a bigger question. Does the Bible address itself directly about all cultural aspects of all communities in the world? The answer obviously is a big `NO`. Now you have to use a Biblical principle to come to a decision about any thing of which the Bible does not specifically talk about.

Answer to your first question is clearly a `NO` based on the principle that one should NOT be greedy. Surely the Bible does NOT give any place for any one asking for dowry at all. I think you have no doubt about it as well.

Your questions obviously imply that you are against the dowry system because you think that the Bible is against it. But you need to do a bit of rethinking when answering the second part of your question. You are asking for the (biblical) basis for dowry system as found in Christian circle today.

I think there is a very strong biblical basis for dowry system. The Indian Christian law is clear when it says that boys and girls must have equal share of the family property. This is based on the Biblical principle that both genders have equal status in life. When a girl gets married, she legally becomes the member of another family. She has every right for the family property she grew up with. So in India our culture devised that the girl is given her share as she gets married and goes away. There are people who give away the share of landed property of the family which she deserves at her marriage. But most often it is given as cash and as jewels. I think it must be so and I think it should not be challenged.

But when it comes to demanding dowry and when it comes to people who do not have any property, this becomes a real problem and a real evil. And Christians should fight against this evil practice tooth and nail.

The New Testament or our Lord NEVER tried to change the social order of their time though slavery was there (1Cor.7:20-21). Yet it is the Biblical principle of equality of all men which wiped away slavery from human society. Ok.

Thirty five years ago when I got married I told my parents NOT to make dowry an issue at my marriage. Then one of the first proposals was for the daughter of an evangelist of whom every one knew he had no money to give as dowry. Though my parents had a bit of a difficult time agreeing to the proposal, I stood by my decision and the Lord honored me for the same.

Now I, as a father of four married children, two boys and two girls, we NEVER made dowry an issue at the negotiations at all. Boys came forward to marry our girls with out a dowry demand. Yet we sold a part of our property and gave the girls their share. Our sons volunteered to marry girls with out any dowry demand. And we as their parents we just gave to the boys what ever was given to us by girl`s parents. It helped them to begin their new family. Yet we are keeping their share of property for them.

I think, when looked at from Christian conviction, dowry has its plus points. But when misused, it is one of the worst evils of our society and Christians must fight against it at any cost. Please read a related article from our already published materials. http://www.gotquestions.org/church-social.html  God bless!!

 

A Question About Culture!

Question Text: 

I am a Malayalee Indian living in America. I believe in Christ. I get confused over some things when I have to do them. When I do things, I struggle between Malayalee, American and Christian ways. I went to a single male`s house  to do homework alone. Everyone in my community I talked to said it was wrong because I put myself for an assault and bad name.  I don`t want to be raped or assaulted or get a bad name in the future. I went because I had a test due and this gentleman is my tutor at school and he offered to help me for free. What should I have done?  (Profile: Female 18-30).

Answer Text:

I am glad that you believe in Christ.  And I know there are a lot of adjustments needed when you live in a foreign country with its completely different cultural set up. You said you talked to some in your community about this matter   If it was just a normal thing, there would not have been the need for talking about It at all.   And every one said it was wrong.  Ok.,   There is a principle you should follow before doing any thing.  If there is a question mark about any thing you wish to do, DO NOT ever do it till all doubts are cleared!   

You asked what you should have done in your situation.   You should have politely refused his offer to help you freely because one never knows whether he is trying to fish with a bait.   From our daily experiences we know how corrupt the world around us is.  Tragically none can predict what is in the mind of another person near us.  Yea, some times even we ourselves do things against our own wishes and only after the action, we realize the seriousness of it!  The Bible describes human heart as deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer.17:9).  Please read a verse from the Bible.    “And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  (Gen 6:5).   Jesus said that the human heart is the seat of all evils (Mk.7:21,22).  This has nothing to do with culture at all.  Human heart is corrupt every where.   In educated society it takes a more subtle form.  That is all. 

It is alright for ladies to meet up with men alone, whether married or unmarried, under supervision or in public places. But one has to make sure that the opposite thing never takes place.    As for me, as an Indian (Malayalee), living in India and a senior citizen now,  for what ever reason, I would NEVER go alone in to the house a lady staying alone.   And  Dr.  Billy Graham made it a policy never to be alone with another lady under any circumstances. . I am citing Dr. Billy Graham to show you that culture has nothing to do with this decision.   If not for any thing else, do not give others a chance to scandalize our name for any reason.  Remember there are so many critical eyes watching us and it is best for us to criticize ourselves before we do any thing rather than letting others criticize us.  When they do it, it will some times be with out mercy and it would hurt us rather deeply and some times it will even affect our whole future itself.  So why give the devil a chance (Eph.4:27)?

You can not take back what you have already done.  But never ever do it in future.  It may never end up in raping or in an assault of any kind.  But who knows whether it might not end up in illegal actions with mutual consent?!  One can never rule out either possibilities!!  So take heed to yourself and keep yourself safe from any assault of the devil (1Pet.5:8).  May the Lord give you grace for His glory.  Amen.

 

My Email Exchanges With An Atheist Guru

Here is my email exchanges with an atheist guru who claims to have a best-seller on the subject.  To conceal his identity I’ll call him Tom in this reproduction.  My name is Mathew Paul.

Tom, I read your de-conversion story a few weeks back with tears in my eyes.  I was not able to get rid of you from my mind and therefore I am sending you this response for your kind reaction.

You said you had a marvelous conversion from drugs and sex etc. to Christ and that your whole life was changed over-night.   I am sure that you are not back to your pre-conversion days after your de-conversion now as no sensible person would ever want to be there.

What do you think now as to how that change took place in your life without the power of God?
If you had not experienced that transformation then in your life, what do you think would have been your position a few years later?  Do you really think you would have survived to this day?  Tell us some thing about your chums who were with you then who were not changed as you were.  Do you know any thing about them at all? 
 
One of the reasons you said for leaving Christianity was that you had received more information now.  Tom, Do you really think that the present information that you have received is the perfect information?
 
What would you think of some of my experiences in prayer, like raising a concrete building of 700 sft. within thirty days without money in hand nor approaching any man for the same either by way of loan or even by sending out ‘information for prayer’?
 
Tom, I hope you will spare a minute and respond to my mail.
 
Thanking you and
praying for you
MP
Tom’s response to my mail.
Thanks for writing Matthew.
 
What do you think now as to how that change took place in your life without the power of God?
 
The power of faith, which is internal to a person. If one truly believes in something, anything, it motivates him and gives him incredible strength.
 
If you had not experienced that transformation then in your life, what do you think would have been your position a few years later?  Do you really think you would have survived to this day?
 
I cannot say. I don’t know. Anything was possible.
 
Tell us some thing about your chums who were with you then who were not changed as you were.  Do you know any thing about them at all? 
 
A couple of them are dead. I don’t know about any of the rest of them. I completely lost track since I went into the ministry.
 
One of the reasons you said for leaving Christianity was that you had received more information now.  Tom, Do you really think that the present information that you have received is the perfect information?
 
Perfect? What’s that? No one has absolute knowledge, not even you. But, I think what I learned was and is true.
 
What would you think of some of my experiences in prayer, like raising a concrete building of 700 sft. within thirty days without money in hand nor approaching any man for the same either by way of loan or even by sending out ‘information for prayer’?
 
I don’t know the details nor do I need to. But I’m sure a bone fide miracle never took place, and that’s all I need to say.
 
Tom, I hope you will spare a minute and respond to my mail.
 
Thanking you and praying for you
 
Go ahead. Thank you. But remember, don’t count the hits when a prayer request is answered, nor discount the misses when a request is not granted. Make it a testable prayer. Pray specifically such that we will both know if your prayer is answered. Don’t offer a nebulous prayer which reveals you truly do not believe, like “help him,” or “convict him,” or “turn his life around before he dies.” None of those prayers can be known to have been granted before we both die, since you might die before me. Be specific. If you want me to return to the faith then give a date when this is supposed to happen. This is not the same as demanding God to do something on your timetable at all, no more than it is when you ask for it not to rain on a given day.
 
I’ve decided to write about this on my blog. I’ll not reveal your name.
 
Cheers,

Tom,
 

My response.

Thanks for your reply.

 Here is my response to your comments.  I’d love to hear from you as you have become some one very dear to my heart and I do wish to have some friendly exchanges with you, if you please.
 
Tom, you said, “The power of faith, which is internal to a person. If one truly believes in something, anything, it motivates him and gives him incredible strength.”
Do you think that if you had believed in ‘Humpty-Dumpty’ you would have been saved from that gutter that you were in?  Do you really think so?  You are a knowledgeable person.  Have you come across one person in your entire life who had an over-night transformation like you had, but that person did not believe in Jesus, but in ‘something, anything’?  Oh Yes, I know many who were helped by rehabilitation centres etc.   It takes weeks if not months for some recovery.  There is nothing dramatic there at all.

But I can produce thousands, if not millions, whose lives were dramatically changed by faith in Christ.  The Mizoes of NE India lived as head-hunters till the early 1950s. Nothing could change them for thousands of years.  But now go and see the transformation which the gospel has brought to their culture.  They are one of the finest groups of people in the entire region now.  In my late teens I lived near them for a whole year as a teacher.  And many more examples are there.  You know it all, don’t you, Tom?

You said, “Perfect? What’s that? No one has absolute knowledge, not even you. But, I think what I learned was and is true.”

I never claim to know every thing.  But you seem to do so.

Let me explain.  If you want to say that there is no piece of magnet in your coat-pocket, you must know whatever is in there, don’t you?  Likewise, if you want to say that there is no God in the universe, should you not know every thing that is there in the universe?  Otherwise how could you possibly tell it to be absolutely true?

Your arguments from philosophy etc. who could say that they are flawless?

At best you could say, “I don’t know if there is a god”.  Any thing more than that is presumptuous and indeed is foolish.  What do you think, Tom?

Oh, yea.  You could very well say, “I have no god in my life” or “I don’t believe in god”.  That is perfectly ok.  But I think you need not verbalize that as your life speaks loud enough.

 You said, “I don’t know the details nor do I need to. But I’m sure a bone fide miracle never took place, and that’s all I need to say.”

In saying that are you not closing your eyes to facts?  And yet you are claiming that prayer has no effect outside of the one who prays.  I throw an open challenge at you to look at my life and then say prayer is useless.  Would you have the courage to take it up, Tom?
You said, “If you want me to return to the faith then…”
 
Sorry, I have no intention to pray you back to faith at all.   All I am praying for you is that God would be gracious to you and give you happy and long life here on earth so that you could enjoy it to the maximum. I am sure God will grant you that.  After all, you closed your door for any thing which is there after you die.  My Bible tells me not to waste time praying for people who don’t want it (1Jn.3:16b).
God never forces His way into the life of any person (Rev.3:20). 
 
I subsist on prayers.  I see answers to prayers on a regular basis. People request me to pray for them.  I do see results beyond any man’s imagination.  By the way, I am not a Charismatic or a Pentecostal. I am a sober person with a post-graduate degree in Divinity and a research degree from a reputable secular university. 
Tom,  did you realize that all your fight against God is like a dog barking at the Sun!

Wish you all the very best this life could possibly offer.

Again praying for you
Mathew

Tom’s response.
It’s all a matter of perspective, and I think my perspective is much better than yours for these reasons:
 
(He then gave his link here.  Since I do not wish to reveal his identity, I have removed it from here.)
 
Tom, did you realize that all your fight against God is like a dog barking at the Sun!
 
Matthew, did you realize that all your fighting against Allah is like a dog barking at the Sun!
 
Wish you all the very best this life could possibly offer.
You too.
 Again praying for you.
 Thank you.   Tom.
My response

Thank you for sending me the link to your blog.  I promise to read it and I will come back with my comments later.
 
You also said,  “Matthew(by the way, I spell my name with one ‘t’), did you realize that all your fighting against Allah is like a dog barking at the Sun!”
 
Tom, I must tell you I do not engage myself with non-entities.  You could never ever get me talking about other ‘god/gods’ as they have no existence in my thoughts.  Could you possibly fight against some thing which really does not exist at all?  Oh, sorry, this is what you are doing with the God of the Bible.  I challenge you to engage yourself with Harry Potter instead, for to both of us HP is an imaginary person.
 
To me the greatest evidence for the existence of god is that man has been talking about god/s from time immemorial even until today.
 
Could you possibly name anything, something which does not exist and yet man has been talking about it from time immemorial non-stop even until this day?
 
Waiting to hear from you soon.
 
Have a good day.
Bye for now.
Mathew
(Four days later I wrote again.)
I was expecting a response from you for my mail dated Feb.21, where I requested you to give me the name of some thing, any thing which does not exist, as you say God does not, and yet man has been talking about it non-stop from time immemorial even until today as they have been talking about God.  I covet an answer from you, Tom, because I know that you are a great thinker, please.
 
As I promised you I read through your reasons for rejecting Christianity.  I must congratulate you for producing such a comprehensive case against the ‘faith once delivered to the saints’.  I must say that your thought pattern is great and that your arguments are succinct.  No wonder your book (sure, I didn’t read that) would become one of the best-sellers.  I must also tell you that I can never think of arguing against you from your stand-point. 
 
But I dare not leave you to the conclusions you reached by your arguments, simply because it lacks practical application in our daily living. Or you must prove it.  Any theory if it is not practical is of little value, isn’t it?   Being a very practical man, after my university studies, where my simpleton faith in the Bible was challenged to the core, I decided to experiment to see whether the faith in the God of the Bible was indeed practical or not.
 
So the first thing I did was to resign my job and was found without a regular source of income to sustain my family.  For three and a half years I was all alone with a family of two children then, with no salary, no job as a preacher or a social worker-which would let one be in constant contact with people- and without any known source of income from any estate or any thing of that sort.  In other words, if I went hungry no one in the entire world was responsible for me.  In fact people could blame me for my situation as I could have easily earned a good salary with my educational background.  But during those years I proved to my satisfaction that God was indeed very real in our lives.
 
Three and a half years later, my local worshipping group commended me to the service of the Lord following the pattern found in Acts 13:1-4.  From 1975 till this day I live without a regular salary, no bank balance, no business income or income from any estate.  Now we have five children and I want to testify to the fact that we never ever went hungry or we were found in need and were left with out any help.  We never approached any man for any financial help.  And we went to a remote jungle-tribe that our contact with the extended family and friends were practically nil.
 
By 1986 I had sufficient faith to believe in God to erect a concrete building without any contact with men for the finance of it.  I started with little money in hand, completed a 700 sft. of concrete structure including the roof within a matter of thirty calendar days; ended with no debt, and informed no man any where even for prayer about this project as I wanted to prove a point.  That building has a granite inscription which reads, “This building stands witnessing the fact that God of Elijah lives”.  For over six months I spent eight to ten hours every day in my prayer- closet praying, planning and interacting with God for the same. The purpose of the building was to house the poor children to educate them.
 
When the building was completed within 30 days, I was amazed to the core. I could not believe it myself.  I thought my life-purpose was indeed achieved as I proved once again without a speck of doubt that indeed God answers prayers today.  In 1991 I became semi-paralyzed and for the last sixteen years I am unable to walk even one step without crutches. And I had to leave my station for health reasons.  
 
Now I am almost confined to my bedroom.  The enormous amount of money for my treatment and for the education of all my children now five in number (the eldest was only 16 then), all were well taken care of as direct, tangible, undeniable, unbelievable answer to prayer day by day. No individual, no organization, no church can ever claim that they kept us going all these years without us going bankrupt. Oh, yes, I have been getting money from people known and unknown to me, from family and from friends, from believers and unbelievers; indeed often I never knew where my next meal would come from, but it always came right in time.  I just don’t know how our needs are taken care of.  But we are well cared for.
 
Tom, in the light of my experiences,  I wish you to prove to me that God never answered my prayers.  Tell me how I survived all these years.  Tell me how I educated my five children to earn a good living today.  Tell me how I met my huge medi-bills every now and then.  Tell me how I maintained an automobile all these years. (Mind you, I am almost confined to my room without any ministry for the last sixteen years and practically without much contact with the world out side.  No, No.  I would have published a dozen and a half articles in Christian magazines in the last 32 years.  Yes, I did go out once or twice a year to teach but it is far too expensive as I could never travel alone.  I worked as a volunteer for three years in a Bible College.  But health prevented me from continuing.  That was just about the touch I had with the world outside. I must also tell you that this email facility I have now only from Oct.07.)   Most of all, tell me how that building came up in just 30 days.  Would you be able to explain my life from your philosophy of life?
 
Your answer must not merely be an explanation of what happened in my life.   You or some one else must produce similar results for a whole life trusting in ‘Humpty-Dumpty’ or on ‘ anything or something’ as you said that it was the power of faith within you that did it. If that is so, do it for me that we may believe your theory.  If you can’t, I can give  you numerous people who like me simply subsisted by prayer all their life.  I took cue from reading the biography of George Mueller of Bristol and others like him.  I ask you to produce ONE single person who did it without God and the Bible, believing in ‘Humpty-Dumpty’ or  on anything, or on something.
 
So here I stand.  I say that the God of the Bible is true and is alive.  He can be trusted and must be trusted.  Or prove it otherwise not merely by your arguments, but by your life.  OK. Otherwise agree that your theory is just a theory which is not practical.
 
Waiting to hear from you.
 
In His Matchless Service
Mathew
 
You might read more stories from my life in my blog-site if you need.
 
Thanking you
 
And bye.
Mathew
Tom’s response
I ask you to produce ONE single person who did it without God and the Bible, believing in ‘Humpty-Dumpty’ or on anything, or on something.
 
I don’t know your full circumstances, but I dare say that your story is a self-fulfilled and group fulfilled answer prayer.
 
Show me that you can duplicate these same circumstances in a world where there are no other Christians who feel compelled to prove to themselves and to people like me that Christianity is true, and who are not bound by divine command to financially help their ministers preach the gospel and in times of need and you may have a case.
 
Ingersol tells a story where two traveling salve salesmen who are trying to show theirs is better. So one guy cuts off the tail of a dog and applies his salve to the stump on the dog and it causes a new tail to grow out. The other guy puts his salve on the amputeed tail and it causes a dog to grow out of it. He says he wanted a good miracle like that. Me too
Tom.

My response.
Thank you for the response.
 
You explain my experiences as self-fulfillment and group fulfillment. You said, “I don’t know your full circumstances, but I dare say that your story is a self-fulfilled and group fulfilled answer prayer.”    I think, You are daring too much, Tom.
 
You also said,
 
“Show me that you can duplicate these same circumstances in a world where there are no other Christians who feel compelled to prove to themselves and to people like me that Christianity is true, and who are not bound by divine command to financially help their ministers preach the gospel and in times of need and you may have a case”
 
 
Tom, why do close your eyes to naked facts?  I told you very clearly that I wanted to prove whether God indeed answered prayers without human interference or not. I, therefore, on purpose did not disclose that I was on this project to ANY man ANY where in the entire world.  My physical situation suited me so well for this as I lived in a place far away from all modern conveniences.  Believe me, I didn’t even have a telephone connection as it was not available in our village.
 
That particular month, April 1986 to be precise, I spent more that ten to fifteen times our average expenditure.  If money was flowing in that way, surely I would have become a millionaire in one or two years!  But the flow of money just stopped as I completed the building.  It was two months later that I opened the building at which time came the first ever announcement about the building.
 
You call it group fulfillment.  Yes, indeed. That is amazing too.  Truly amazing!  Because God moved several people’s hearts that month all over to come forward and donate funds for a cause that they never knew about.  God was behind it all.  Not any man, as no one regulated funds for that building.
 
You quoted Innersole in your mail.  Fantastic illustration, indeed!
 
In all your mails you did not answer my three questions.
 
1.  Produce ONE person other than you who had an over-night transformation from the gutter by trusting self, or some thing, anything, like you had.  (I can not categorize you in that group because you said in your de-conversion story that you had trusted in JESUS and that you were transformed over-night.  Now if you say that it was in yourself that you trusted and not in Jesus, I must tell you that you are simply lying.)  But I can show you millions around the world who could testify that Jesus changed them over-night.
 
2. Tell me the name of SOME THING, ANY THING which does not exist other than God, as you say God does not, yet man every where has been talking about it non-stop from time immemorial till today.
 
3.  Show me ONE other individual who produced similar results as I have produced for a whole life time trusting in some thing, any thing other than the God of the Bible, specially at the construction of the building that I talked about. I can show you numerous people like myself all around the world who subsisted by prayer. (See my link: www.mathewpaul.org/exciting! and read my post ‘Maruthy Omni’ to read about  how I got the car which I run now. Could any one produce similar results by trusting in ‘any thing or some thing’ or trusting in self?)
 
I hope you will give me answers to these questions. 
 
If as you say there is no God, I do not lose any thing at all as you yourself agreed that I am a self-fulfilled person.  If not… who can imagine what?!!
 
Thanking you and hoping to hear from you soon.
 
In His matchless service an unprofitable servant,
Mathew
 (I am still waiting for answers from him.)

 

Waiting For Answers

I have had a few email exchanges with an atheist Guru who claims to have a best seller on the subject.  In my email exchanges with him, he was very generous and answered all my questions except three which I am giving here for any one else to answer. 

I said, “In all your mails you did not answer my three questions.”  I went on to say, “I hope you will give me answers to these questions”.  I did not get a reply from him as yet.  Some one reading this might like to answer me.  ok.
 
Qn1.  Produce ONE person other person than you, who had an over-night transformation from drugs,  sex, and gutter like you had, by trusting  in self, or in some thing,  or in anything other than in Jesus.  (In his deconverson story he says that he had trusted in JESUS and that he was transformed over-night in his late teens from drugs and sex etc. But now he says that it was in himself that he trusted and not in Jesus. Now he says that it was the ‘power of faith’ that saved him and not Jesus.) 

I said, I would show him millions aroud the world who could testify that Jesus changed them over-night. I am asking for just one person who had an over-night transformation like that with out Jesus and the Bible.
 
Qn2. Tell me the names of SOME THING, ANY THING which do not exist other than God and the spirit world (as you say they do not),  and yet men every where have been talking about it non-stop from time immemorial even until today.
 
3.  Show me ONE individual who produced similar results as I have produced for a whole life time, but trusting in some thing or any thing other than the God of the Bible.

I said I could show him numerous people like myself all around the world who subsisted by prayer. (See my post ‘Maruthy Omni’ to read about  how I got the car which I run now. Could any one produce similar results by trusting in ‘any thing or some thing’ or trusting in self?)  For my experience in constructing a concrete building in thirty days with out a human sponsor and other experiences in prayer see my blog-site www.mathewpaul.org .

 Thanks for taking time  out to read this post.  I am waiting for answers.

Have a great day!