Pages from History: 3 September, 1889 – Birth of Sadhu Sunder Singh
Sadhu Sunder Singh was a member of an ancient, aristocratic, and wealthy Sikh family from the village of Rampur in the State of Patiala. He was very religious. Jesus appeared to him in a vision in the early hours of 18th December 1904. Like Paul he heard a voice “Why do you persecute me? Remember that I gave my life for you upon the Cross”. On Sunday, the 3rd of September, 1905, on his sixteenth birthday, he was baptized in St. Thomas Church at Simla according to the rite of the Anglican Church.
Sadhu Sundar Singh
A month after his baptism, Sundar Singh donned the yellow linen robe that celibate Indian Sadhus wore and set out to preach the gospel, carrying nothing but a New Testament. From now on he would have no permanent home and no income.”I am not worthy to follow in the steps of my Lord,” he said, “but like Him, I want no home, no possessions. Like Him I will belong to the road, sharing the suffering of my people, eating with those who will give me shelter, and telling all people of the love of God.’ He also authored eight books.
He is believed to have died in the foothills of the Himalayas in 1929 on his way to Tibet. His body was never found.
Sadhu Sundar Singh
Pages from History: 14 July, 1947, Punchamannil Mammen Upadeshi passes away
14 July, 1947: Punchamannil Mammen Upadeshi passes away. Mammen Upadeshi was born in the Vadasseri house of the Punchamannil family in Maramon on 25 Nov.1868, as the son of Mathai and Achiyamma.
Mammen’s elder siblings all died while they were still infants. So Mammen was baptized at home when he was very young by the Parish Priest Rev. Titus (Later Rt. Rev. Titus I Mar Thoma).
Mammen Upadeshi trusted the Lord like the Old Testament Prophet Elijah and lived like Elijah, spoke the messages of the Lord like Elijah, fought against evil forces like Elijah and even performed miracles like Elijah.
Punchamannil Mammen Upadeshi
Pages from History. 10 July, 1919: P.V. Thommy Upadeshi passes away
10 July, 1919: P.V. Thommy Upadeshi passes away. Thommy Upadeshi was born in a very poor family of the Kunnamkulam Mar Thoma Parish in 1881. After his basic education he became a teacher. But after few years of teaching he became a full time evangelist in the Mar Thoma Church.
Rev. C.M. Joseph, Vicar of the Kunnamkulam Parish encouraged him in his Gospel work. Titus II Metropolitan appointed him as evangelist in Trichur and Perumbavoor He was a blessed Hymn writer. In 1905 he published a Hymn Book “Vishudha Geethangal” comprising of 136 hymns.
His language is simple and even the illiterate persons can enjoy his hymns. The following hymns in the book Kristheeya Keerththanangal are written by him: 3 (3), 11(10), 12(11), 30(28), 56(56), 61(61), 67(67), 70(70), 71(71), 73(73), 96(96), 130(111), 35(126), 145(136), 243(221), 247(225), 286(286), 295(281), 345 (345), 351(351), 366(242), 368(251).
In 1919 there was an outbreak of Cholera in Kunnamkulam and many persons died. Thommy Upadesi volunteered to serve the cholera patients and was finally infected with cholera. He passed away on Wednesday 10 July 1919 at the age of 38.
Kristheeya Keerththanangal
Pages from History: 5 July 1415, Church burns John Hus
5 July, 1415: John Huss, Bohemian preacher and forerunner of Protestantism, is burned as a heretic in Constance, Germany. John Huss was a religious thinker and reformer. He initiated a religious movement based on the ideas of John Wycliffe.
His followers became known as Hussies. The Catholic Church did not condone such uprisings, and Huss was excommunicated in 1411, condemned by the Council of Constance. Hus was offered a chance to recant and declined with the words “God is my witness that the things charged against me I never preached. In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die today.” He was then burned at the stake, and his ashes thrown into the Rhine River.
Jon Hus being burnt at the Stake.
Janíček Zmilelý z Písku – Jena codex
Pages from History: 1 July 1899, Formation of The Gideons International
1 July, 1899: Three travelling businessmen met in a YMCA building and decided to form an organization to distribute Bibles. The Christian Commercial Men’s Association of America, later renamed the Gideon’s, placed their first Bibles in a hotel nine years later.
Gideon’s started their work in India in 1961. The 33rd annual convention of Gideon’s International (India) was held at Tiruvalla in May, 2002.
Gideon’s distribute complete Bibles, New Testaments, or portions thereof. They have placed 1.9 billion Scriptures and are on a mission to reach 2 billion.
The Gideons International
Pages from History: 27 June, 1880, Birth of Helen Keller
27 June, 1880: Birth of Helen Keller (d.1 June 1968) in Tuscumbia, a little town of northern Alabama, USA.
As a baby of nineteen months, Helen Keller was stricken with a severe illness which left her totally blind and deaf. Then Anne Mansfield Sullivan a English teacher came to teach her and there began that remarkable story of her development into a woman of great culture and spiritual insight.
Helen Keller devoted her life to helping blind and deaf-blind people. She appeared before US state and national legislatures and international forums, travelled around the world to lecture and to visit areas with a high incidence of blindness, and wrote numerous books and articles. She is known as a symbol of Hope for blind people across the world.
Miss Sullivan reading to Miss Keller, circa 1898 (http://www.afb.org)
Pages from History: 25 June, 1865, Formation of China Inland Mission
25 June, 1865: Formation of China Inland Mission. English Missionary J Hudson Taylor is the founder of the China Inland Mission. Its missionaries were not having any guaranteed salary. They never appealed for funds. They trusted in God for all their needs and they even adopted the Chinese way of dressing.
J. Hudson Taylor
(http://www.jameswatkins.com/hudsontaylor.htm)
Pages from History: 20-26 June, 1599: Synod of Diamper (Udayamperoor)
20-26 June, 1599: Synod of Diamper (Udayamperoor) was held under the president ship of Aleixo de Menezes, (25 January 1559 – 3 May 1617) the then Archbishop of Goa. One of the decrees of the synod about marriage reads as follows “No man shall be married hereafter, until he has attained the age of fourteen years at least, nor any woman before she is fully twelve.”
Archbishop Aleixo de Menezes (http://www.ibiblio.org)
Pages from History:- Birth of Bartholomew Ziegenbalg (1682)
10 June, 1682: Birth of Bartholomew Ziegenbalg.
Ziegenbalg was born in a little Saxony town called Pulsnitz in southeast Germany. His parents were God fearing Christians with a missionary outlook.
With the help of King Frederick IV of Denmark, Ziegenbalg and his friend started their sea journey to India on 29 Nov 1705 and reached the coast of present Tamil Nadu, a place called Tranquebar on 9 July 1706.
They were the first protestant Missionaries to India and hence 9th July is celebrated as the birthday of Protestant Missions in India. Ziegenbalg passed away on 23 Feb 1719.
Pages from History: William Carey passes away (1834)
9 June, 1834: William Carey often called “the father of modern Protestant missions” dies, having spent 41 years in India without a furlough. His mission could count only about 700 converts, but he had laid a foundation of Bible translations, education, and social reform.
He also inspired the missionary movement of the nineteenth century, especially with his cry, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God “. As per his will he was buried in the Serampore Cemetery with the following inscription on the tomb stone “William Carey, Born 17 Aug 1761, Died 9 June, 1834; A wretched, poor and helpless worm, on thy kind arms I fall”.
William Carey: The Shoemaker Who Became the Founder of Modern Missions; (John Brown Myers; London 1887)
William Carey’s tombstone at the Serampore Christian burial grounds (Photo from http://www.careyfamilynetwork.co.uk)
Nalloor Library 