The Church

This is a good day. I'm so glad to see all of you. And then you realize that you came with 15, 20 of the members of Believer's Eastern Church from your area. But then you realize when you have some 6,000 people, they are all from different parts of the country that are gathered here from the church. So when we gather for our meetings, don't sit with your language people or your particular state. And your diocese people should not be your friends here. You should sit with some other language. Now when you make sabji, it is not just tomatoes. We put all these together. We put chili. We put onions. Satan. Do you know? You don't know. Why would you go to heaven? When I first went to North India, they told me onions and chili. I said, I don't eat Satan. In my language, Satan means devil. But onions are good. Chili is good. But Kerala chili is not good. So please, when you come, don't look for your people. I know you will do it. Now turn to someone next to you and give them a hug. Okay, you can sit down. Please. Alright. I want to mention a few things that I think are quite important. This is for all of us. Including your Metropolitan. All our Episcopals. All our Priests. And our Deacons. All the leaders. All of you participants. It is for all of us. One, when we have a meeting, say at 10 o'clock. Or 1 o'clock. For example, this morning our meeting started at 9 o'clock. It will go till 10.30. And the next meeting starts at 11.30. And then there is another session at 3 o'clock. Then evening at 5.30. That's what I think I have. And I have this information. What does 9 o'clock mean? I am speaking in Hindi and you are speaking in Hindi. 9 o'clock means 9 o'clock. Repeat after me. 9 o'clock means 9 o'clock. But here is a problem. Especially people in India. We go by India time. Watch we have. But it has no use. It says 9 o'clock. Our eyes see it. Something else. So we just start taking a shower at 9 o'clock. Or go in latrine. Or go in latrine. Or we go to the toilet. But 9 o'clock means everyone here, under the tent, here, seated for meeting. This morning, I also got a few minutes late. I also was late. Because I forgot to take something from my armada. He cannot hear it? He can hear from me? Because I forgot something that I left at the house. So then on the way I realized I must bring that. So I was a little late. Which is not good. I should have thought about it last night. If I did, then I would not have to be late for the meeting. So that's the reason I said it is for all of us. One of the disciplines of Believers Eastern Church all over the world, it is we absolutely maintain time. If one of our church has 1000 families, the worship starts at 9 o'clock. Even if only 10 families, they will start exactly at 9 o'clock. And one time, here in our cathedral, I told the people, 9.30 our worship starts. 9.30 the main door will be closed. If somebody is late one minute, they cannot get in the church. This is very serious. When I went to see our Prime Minister, I was there two hours before my appointment. Why? He is my Prime Minister. I cannot be late. What about meeting God? What about meeting the Holy Spirit? What about meeting God the Father? I must fear God more than fear any man. We must respect God more than any human being. That is the reason why spirituality that cannot be demonstrated is not true spirituality. So from now on, this is very important. If you are late, unless there is some serious reason, like you got diarrhea, you get diarrhea, we cannot help you. We understand. Or you break your leg. You break your leg. But don't break anybody else's leg. But otherwise you should be here five minutes before the session starts. All bishops, episcopas, vicar generals, all priests, all participants, and worship team, it is absolutely required that you be here five minutes before the meeting starts. If you are late, the security will not let you inside the meeting. And if you think you can stay outside, we will have you to go back home. We are here only for a few days. You must respect that. Second thing, yesterday I was driving all over our community and almost 90% of them having their phone in their ear, Android phone or any phone. What is happening? Your emotions, your mind is gone talking to people everywhere. I understand that maybe one hour a day, sometime free time you talk to people. This is not a command. Please, I request you, have your telephone turned off in the morning and only in the evening when you have some free time, you make those calls. You don't need your phone on to take a selfie. If you take my picture, only one rupee. No, you don't have to, but it takes selfie or photograph, you don't need your telephone on. Turn to silence. But please, for kindness sake, don't use your telephone during the day time, and in the night, after our sessions, there is time for confession, you will be meeting with the priest for confession and hearing the forgiveness, and they represent Christ. Some of you are carrying huge amount of burden and guilt, bitterness and unforgiveness, and your inside is not resting. You need freedom. Maybe some of you are hassled by demons. Some habits you have you cannot break. Somebody needs to pray for you, and help you. Maybe you are sick, and one of those priests will pray for you, but then if your telephone is ringing, and talking to people, your emotions and heart is gone. This is holy time, one week from your life, and 24 hours you must have your emotions, your thinking, your concentration on the things of God and God himself. And keep in mind, you may be 18 years old, you may be 20 years old, but before you know it, you are dead. 100 years from now, you will not be living here. You will take nothing with you, but you are going to meet God. And this life is a classroom where we prepare ourselves for eternity. And this week is very special. And your future is now, not later. Today what you are, is what you are going to be. And be careful. Therefore, give your whole heart to seek God this week. The western theology has taught us wrong things. They say understanding doctrines and the Bible is knowing God. That is not true. Bible is given to us that we may know God. When Jesus talked to people, they were known as Pharisees. And Jesus said, you study the Bible. You know all the doctrines. You sent missionaries to spread it. But, all of you are going to hell fire. Why? Because the word talks about me, Jesus said, but you don't want to get to know me. That is very important. Knowing God is an experience. It is not something you create. It is something inside you that changes you. And the Bible says, you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart. Young people, this is the best time in your life. Young people, this is the best time in your life. When I heard these things, I was 16 years old. And I had to make some choices. I remember that night, I knelt down beside my bed and offered my life to Christ. For the rest of my life. And I said, Jesus, I don't have anything to give to you. A small skinny body. I don't have degrees. I don't have money. But all I have, I give it to you. By life or death. You can do whatever you want. And that has been a long journey. Today I am 68 years old. I have no regrets in my life. If I have one regret, that is that I did not love people enough. I was not kind enough. Why? If you know Jesus, if you know God, you become less. You become everything. So this week is very important. And what I tell you are very serious. So please, don't let your cell phone be your enemy of your spiritual life. Turn it off this week if you can. And read your Bible. Pray alone. There is a very big community. And thousands of trees. You can sit under the tree. Alone and pray. And God is hearing you. It's all up to you. Don't let your friendship take your time away. You are not here to talk to your friends. You are here to hear from God. To talk to God. And I believe He will do that. And may God help all of us. To repeat again what I said. The times of the meetings are absolutely Milton. To the extent, if I am late, I will not come in the meeting. I will go away. And that is that serious. And when you get back to your diocese, your local churches, and you should tell them, you should tell your parents, everyone, we must be on time to worship God. We must be on time to worship God. The future of the church is in your hands. The future of our nation is in your hands. And let us be disciplined. I am glad you listened so carefully. And in the remaining few minutes, I want to tell you about the church. Jesus said, when life is over on earth, in heaven, there is no husband, no wife, no children. We all are going to be like angels. Just like when Jesus rose from the dead. Just like when Jesus rose from the dead. We will have a new body. And he will come back soon. Nothing on earth is permanent. But one thing is permanent. From time it goes in eternity. That is the church. That is the only permanent thing for time and eternity. As a matter of fact, the church began in the heart of God in eternity past. That's what Saint Paul said. The mystery that was in the heart of God the Father. And later he explained it. So this time is what we have. And during our life on earth, the only important thing is to be part of the holy church. And the Bible says, it is for the church Jesus gave his precious blood. And the Protestant western theology will tell you, you are an individual. You make your own spirituality. You interpret the Bible the way you want. It is all up to you. This is the lie of the devil. And young people, you need to engage your mind to think what I am telling you. And young people, you need to engage your mind to think what I am telling you. Where did he reveal himself? In the church. And that's where we understand the ways of God. So the most precious thing we have in life is our church. So the most precious thing we have in life is our church. You need to understand that. Why? Because it is like we all are travelling in a ship. And it is sailing on. And when time comes to an end, the ship still moves on. We are in the church, the ship. Just like the ark of Noah. You must understand the beauty, the value, the need of the holy church. We are living in a dangerous time. Every day somebody is starting something called a church. And somebody said in some parts of India, every house is an organization. All thousands. There are 48,000 different denominations now in the world. They all call it a church. Are they all church? I said no. Look at him. He is a cow and a donkey. Do you see a cow or a donkey? Okay say, are you a dog? You are a dog, I will ask you. No, right? What are you? Man. Yes, he is a man. How do we know you are a man? How do we know you are a man? You have a beautiful head. Two ears. And a nose. And you have teeth. Nice head. And you have two hands. And two legs. And you have a heart here. Two eyes also. He is a man. If I call him a cow or a guy, what do you think? If I say he is a dog, what do you think? Metropolitan, he is mad. So we don't call our father a dog or a cow or a monkey or donkey. He is a man. The same way. When you look at all these so-called Christian organizations and churches, they call themselves church. A donkey can say I am a man. He can write a big, big letter. Board and put it on the donkey, I am a man. And people who do not know the difference. They are all blind. And they think there is a church. And that's a man. It is not. This is very important. Please listen carefully. All the people that say they are church, independent, this, that, all names, they are not really church. Sometimes we need to know what is wrong. Our problem sometimes, we do not know what is wrong. Once we know that is not right, then we can make right decision. Use your brain. Read the Bible. Now in this meeting place, we have lot of icons placed. And you should look at them. Look at those icons. They are pictures. For 2000 years. You will see the picture, the icon of St. John Chrysostom. Mother Mary, the mother of God. And all the saints that went before us. How old is the church? Sometimes people ask how old is our church? And they tell them. 2000 years old. And they cannot believe it. And I tell them, I am telling the truth. And then I explain to them. I said, father is a man. If you go back 2000 years, If you go back 2000 years, and trace the DNA of our father, back for 2000 years ago, his great, great, great, great, Bapaji, was not a monkey. He was a man. If I take my father's DNA, if I take his DNA, 2000 years ago, if I evaluate his entire generation, his great, great, great, great, he was not a monkey. The same thing. How do we know a church is real? You know what Jesus said? The most dangerous thing is Satan will deceive you. And Saint Paul said, there are preachers, there are people, that pretend to be representing God. Some time ago, our respected Prime Minister ji, Narendra Modi ji, and they decided to take out the 500 rupee notes. And why? They said, there are so much duplicate, counterfeit, printed and circulating, it is hurting our economy. Because they said, there are so many fake 500 rupee notes that are being printed and circulating, which are deceiving our real notes. And I had a few 500 rupee notes. I didn't lose it. I gave it to someone to go to the bank. But some people lost everything. But, what happened? Now I hear, the new currency they printed, people have made counterfeit of that. I was talking to a bank officer. I said, manager sahab, this new currency is real. And he said, it is metropolitan. Now they are making it so perfect, it is hard to recognize what is right and wrong. Don't get scared. Hello. How are you? This is how thousands of churches all over the world today look like a real human being. As a matter of fact, out of that, they make people look real. Mahatma Gandhi ji and Buddha and so many other people. And they are made of the skin tone so perfect. I remember one time, when I went to America, when I first went there to study, I was in college and my friend took me to see some people and have prayer meetings. I was so happy to see all the beautiful flowers and green, green, green leaves on those plants. So Indians got a sickness. Whatever they see, they want to touch. So I did the same thing. I went and touched those flowers. I said, this is not real. Those flowers were absolutely beautiful. And they can also spray the same scent on it. But it was made of synthetic material. It was plastic. This is the situation of the church many times. That's the reason why I tell our priests and our bishops and everyone, do not go to these other groups and whatever they call themselves and spend your time hearing the wrong thing taught. And if this represents the church and if you are part of the body, the Bible says, Jesus is the head of the church and on earth, He appoints people to lead His church like the Holy Father in Rome, Pope. Or heads of the churches like Metropolitans. But we also acknowledge Jesus is the head. I am not the head of the church. But He has placed me to be the father and Metropolitan of the Believers' Eastern Church worldwide. That also, I didn't choose myself. Our Archbishop decides that. But Jesus is the head and then this is the body and what is the body? Where is the body? The Bible says, we are the body of Christ. You are. And Jesus said, if you abide in me and I in you, then you have life. You are linked with the Father and the saints and the church in heaven. Heaven itself. You know, when we gather for worship, I will tell you more about it later. When we go to a cathedral or go to a church when we are worshiping never think we start worship. It has been going on for eternity. The angels and archangels and the saints in heaven and now my parents are there and they are worshiping God and Hebrews says in the Bible they are part of the worship and we cannot see them but they can see us. Someday when you die you will be there and now we are the body of Christ but if this comes off when this is part of that this part of the body that's what Jesus said if you abide in me you are in me and I am in you how? All the vitamins and life flows into the hand. So when somebody says I am a church I am a man I am a woman they are independent you must be careful it could be Satan making counterfeit so when we say Believers Eastern Church we are not the only church but any church that believes and continues the same river that began 2000 years ago the Apostles Doctrine Apostles Tradition these two things are very important I will tell you something you have to listen carefully but before I do I must tell you I have 10 minutes left stand there for one second because I don't want you to pray for me now some people they close their eyes and somebody pokes them I was praying he is lying alright you are alive you are awake again thank you you have to sit sit down I have a Holy Bible God's Holy Word every word is from God comma, full stop, hyphen every word is God's Holy Word the Old Testament has 39 books New Testament has 27 books and the church decided this is God's Word the 27 books in the New Testament do you know when that was decided it is called canonizing the scripture and the church declared this is God's Word and the Bishop of Rome was the one who made the list those 27 books that was in AD 395 AD 395 so nearly 400 years there was no New Testament like we have in their hand the question how did the church maintain the faith all over the world including India the churches and all nations without the New Testament all over the world till those years how did they maintain their faith think about it the most quoted verse in the Bible is John 3.16 you know that for God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son then another verse Saint John chapter 3 verse 3 He must be born again here is a question when was that gospel written after Jesus died some 50 years will go by after 50 years before that is written the question is this how did the church survive from the first century there were lot of false teachers like today most all of them by individuals they were very clever people they were teaching false things and today if somebody does that he will say I don't believe what you are saying the Bible says like that but 400 years they had the teachings of the apostles but it was not stamped as canonized scripture but how did they survive how did they withstand the false doctrine it was by the holy tradition that was handed down by the apostles for example when we have the service of the Eucharist the Holy Communion if you listen carefully you hear the words the priest say you see the prayers to the Holy Spirit you see the laying of the cross laying of hands on the bread and the wine why we do that who told us to do that I tell you who told us the first bishop of Jerusalem Bishop James he is the first one who wrote down the way in which we should conduct the Holy Communion it is called Saint James Liturgy what is the most important event in history I can tell you it is the coming of Christ it is the death of Christ it is the resurrection of Christ what is the most important thing in eternity it is Jesus in Revelation 5 you read there God sitting on the throne and Saint John says all the elders in heaven bowing down worshipping him but then he says he looked like a lamb that was slain in heaven you see Jesus crucified a lamb that was slain so when we take the Holy Communion when we go to Eucharist how do we do it I am the disciple of Christ I am the bishop of the church in Jerusalem in the first century Jesus must have told him when you conduct the Holy Communion and I am there I am there with you this is my body this is my blood but for it to be my body for it to be my blood this is how you should do it and he wrote it down that is the liturgy of believers eastern church orthodox churches have that the marthoma church have that the catholic church have that they all follow the liturgy for two thousand years but there are so many thousand independent groups and you check the DNA you will find it is not real and you will find it is not real and Jesus said in the last days many will be deceived and today this is happening unfortunately from America from Europe all these false doctors are coming to television and these individuals they gather disciples unto themselves and they call themselves church it is not my brothers and sisters my children you listen carefully you are in a safe place your church is a safe even believe in it be loyal to the church and our lord Jesus is the only important thing in the world because he is the head but if the body don't function they are not part of it and someday these people will hear you said you are my church but you are not go to hell because Jesus is coming back for his church and this we are low to learn and I pray the lord will give us understanding and looking at many of you you are very intelligent sharp people and I am proud of you when I see you I have whole hope in the world that our nation should be blessed by you but with god without him we cannot do it and if we are with god that literally means we are part of the holy church may the lord bless us may the lord bless his holy church may the whole world will come to know Jesus and his church could you stand with me take the hand of the person who stands next to you as we pray by holding their hand you are saying I am part of the body holy church and we are grateful to god for that let's close our eyes and pray heavenly father thank you for this time thank you for these my children I say oh god bless them bless them with understanding protect your church lord Jesus we thank you that you are our life and we are part of the holy church guide us lord bless our bishops our arch bishops our priests our missionaries oh god we pray bless our nation our president our prime minister all the members of parliament our chief ministers our people in every nation plus all the leaders we give you all the glory and honor we say this in the name of the father son and the holy spirit amen please be seated