But the next day, a wind of worldly wisdom blew over to extinguish my flame. It was a letter from the Military calling me to join service at Calcutta. A splendid opportunity, after all, that only a fool could reject; but I had already become a fool for Christ’s sake. I knew my promise to the Lord and was confident about His call over my life. The Government had offered me a promising salary and job security; but my heart was burning with a heavenly desire for the mission of my Father in heaven. I had committed to serve God in His eternal Kingdom and there was no turning back. I look back at these 58 years I’ve spent in His care and have never for a moment regretted or doubted my commitment to Christ. God through His Spirit is more real to me than the smell, sight, and sound of the world surrounding me. There might have been times when my flame has flickered but the light and strength of it has never faded away.
ROOTS
I was born on 9 January 1922 in a Keralite Syrian Orthodox family that traced its origins to the first converts of Thomas the apostle of Christ. I was the second of the four sons and two sisters that my parents were so proud of. We grew up in admiration of our ancient Syrian Church which gave us the sense of rootedness in a rich and honorable history: the Syrian Church traces its history to the Church at Antioch of apostolic times. But the form of religiosity doesn’t guarantee the fact of spirituality and historical rootedness might be ethnically significant but means nothing in the Kingdom of Christ. I was privileged to learn this soon and was not hesitant, when I met Christ through His gospel, to commit my whole life to Him.
However, the road to this was not so easy. I had grown up with a deep sense of patriotism and was, by the age of 17, a leader of a group of young students who joined the Struggle for Independence. We wanted our nation to be freed from the dominance of British rule. It was the year 1939, and the horror of World War II engulfed whole nations. The present Kerala was then divided into three kingdoms – Travancore, Cochin, and British Malabar. Travancore was an independent state under the British Government. The Chief Minister of the state, Mr. C. P. Ramaswami Iyer was a tyrant who would order his troops to shoot at the demonstrating students. But passion for freedom banished the fear of bullets from our hearts.
A little church of Pentecostals in our village, however, seemed disconnected from all these things. They were caught up in some form of spiritual revival which looked as gibber to me. We felt that this bunch of religious heretics was not only traditionally rootless but also intellectually error-driven. So, when some special meetings were arranged at this time in the yard of the Pentecostal church, we sat outside and tried to disturb the meetings. Still, unsatisfied with our actions, we decided to meet one of the guest speakers, Pastor K. E. Abraham and overpower him with our arguments. Of course, we knew very less of the Bible but knew this much that the Pentecostals falsely taught that right form of baptism was by immersion and not by sprinkling of water. They were wrong, we thought, in rebaptizing those Christians who had been already baptized as infants. But Pastor Abraham didn’t argue with us. He simply quoted scripture after scripture that proved his teaching of baptism by immersion and challenged us to prove infant baptism from the scriptures which, obviously, we could not do. On our way back, I told my friends our arguments fell as dry leaves before the strength of the evidence of scripture.
That evening I went back to attend the meeting and squatted down among the people on the ground. Pastor K. E. Abraham began to speak of God’s great love manifested for us at the Cross of Calvary. Tears flooded my eyes as the words sunk deep within my heart and I confessed my sins to Jesus with my head between my knees. I suddenly became oblivious to my surrounding. Obviously, many were repenting and committing their lives to Christ as I was doing. But I sat confronted with the breath-taking supremacy of God’s love. His light flooded into my soul expelling death and darkness. That was when I decided that I could never forsake Christ. My life was surrendered never to revert again. I had realized that it is not traditional rootedness but Kingdom rootedness that establishes one as a child of God. I was born again.
COMMITMENT TO SERVE
Immediately, following this experience, I began to realize that I had a new appetite for the things of God; I wanted to learn more of God and of His Word. I used to be interested in literature earlier but had a particular distaste for religious discussions. However, I saw that my birth into God’s family also created in me a strong craving for the things of God. Appetite, obviously, is a matter of the differences of nature. Therefore, the Scripture tells us that a natural man (or one who is not born again) has no appetite for the spiritual things of God, for they appear as meaningless to him (2Cor. 2:14). But a child of the Kingdom receives strength by the spiritual nutrition that comes from ingesting the Word of Truth.
With the assistance of Pastor K. E. Abraham, I joined the Hebron Bible School with the intent to better understand God’s Word. At this time, I didn’t feel any desire to join the ministry. The Bible School had a policy that only allowed ministerially committed students to live in their hostel. I, therefore, along with some ten other friends arranged to stay outside the campus and attend the school for the classes. The conditions at the school were very trying. They had financial constringencies but were never slack in faith; and God was always faithful to provide for their needs. Things were quite inexpensive in those days and I barely needed a rupee to sustain myself through a whole week; and the rupee was not hard in coming.
But my soul throbbed for God. I would rise up early in the morning each day to go up a hill and sit there for hours reciting the Holy Scriptures with a loud voice. My voice had a sharp pitch, intensity, and volume and would resound back and through the surrounding homes with the Words of Life. By the time I returned, I would be spiritually refreshed. I also used to assist preachers in communicating the gospel especially during open-air campaigns. We didn’t have PA Systems in those days and the only method of communicating to large crowds would be by means of announcers. An announcer would stand close to the preacher and repeat the words he had just heard from him to the crowd within his hearing; another announcer would stand a furlong away and pick up the repeated words to repeat it to the crowd in his hearing, and so on till the last person of the audience was able to hear the message. My vocal capacities earned me a good place as an announcer of such, and as I did that my zeal for the Lord’s work intensified. Also, my convictions grew deeper as I realized my obligation to be baptized the Biblical way.
Someone would disagree with this saying that baptism has only a symbolic meaning and the manner of the symbol didn’t matter as long as the objective of it was fulfilled. I agree that baptism is a symbol, though I believe it is more than that: it is a public testimony to one’s committal to Christ. However, I believe it is important to assert here that the mode of the symbol is determined by God and so cannot be humanly altered. None of the biblical symbols, either in the Old Testament or in the New Testament is at the disposal of human alteration. God gave Moses detailed illustration of how the Tabernacle was to be made and cautioned him against any misdemeanor saying “See to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain” (Ex. 25:40). Similarly, regarding the incense of the altar He says “You shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition… Whoever makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people” (Ex. 30:38). God is very distinctive about his symbols. The symbols are theological and prophetical in nature and therefore not a matter of private interpretation, for they have not originated with men but have come from God (2Pt. 1:20, 21). The symbols are, therefore, absolute. So, in obedience to the divine counsel, I along with 48 others entered the waters of baptism.
The little shack where we met for fellowship looked rather insignificant before the ornate edifices of the traditional churches. The coconut tree provided beam, pillar, and thatch for this little structure. Even the mats were made of its leaves. Such worship places were found throughout Kerala and were known as places were noisy Christians (Pentecostals) met for some weird form of worship. We were looked down as a cult. But I knew deep inside me that this was the original way of the Church of the Acts of the Apostles. The worship services were lengthy here; fervent, passionate, and Spirit-centered. The various gifts of the Holy Spirit as listed in 1 Corinthians 12 regularly manifested. People wept in repentance, sang with joy, listened in silence, and worshipped with the whole heart. As the chorus of praises and Hallelujahs echoed through the congregation, my heart would palpitate with intensity and hunger for more of God. My soul would sometimes be in consternation, and sometimes doubt, since I didn’t possess the similarity of these believers’ experiences, being not yet baptized with the Spirit.
At Hebron, in Kumbanad an English medium school was started by Pastor K. E. Abraham for children of Pentecostal workers and believers. Education was given free of cost and the highly committed and spiritually-fervent teachers who taught there worked by faith and not on any pay-system. For two years, from 1940-1941, I taught at this school during which course of time I crossed paths with many prominent teachers of the day like Habel Verghese, P. J. Thomas, P. J. Daniel, and C. V. Samuel. Hebron was fire-place that attracted visitors from all over the world. Therefore, in process of time, it emerged as a center of the Pentecostal churches in Kerala. However, financial tautness forced most of the workers here to leave it for salaried-jobs. Some left this to join the defence services. I too had similar ideas in my mind when I left the school and the opportunity was not far from hand with the Second World War growing in intensity and calling for more defence personnel. So I applied for it and waited for the reply which, obviously, would be delayed through the viscosity of volatile postal services in those days. One can’t escape faith and hope while living in this world.
While the reply from the Government delayed, I became involved in the 30 days prayer meeting organized by our Church. The meetings were led by an old pastor and his wife who came from a considerably distant place, and though they were not much educated the Lord’s grace was strong over them. As God moved in these meetings, I saw men and women filled with the Spirit and speaking in tongues. The spiritual ecstasy and noise was vibrant but I would sit calm, hands folded in reverence, and pray for God to also move over me. Then one day the pastor’s wife spoke prophetically over me and revealed secrets I had never told others. It was then that the misty layer of doubt vanished from before my eyes and a hunger for the Spirit gripped my soul. I came to realize the absolute necessity of this holy experience, the blessing of being baptized with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.
The meetings were usually prolonged till late in the night as believers continued ardently in prayer. It was on one of those nights that God filled me with His Spirit and I committed myself to His work. News of this infilling soon spread through my village and people began wondering how a rationalizing individual such as I could be so captured with a frenzied experience. The next day, as I recounted earlier, the call from the Military came. But by now, my heart was committed to Christ’s vineyard. I returned the letter along with the rail pass explaining that I could not join the services now. Inside, I was actually afraid of my dad who I felt would compel me to join the job; however now, with the letter returned I felt secure. Eventually, people started condemning me for this decision which they considered to be not far from foolishness. But, I considered losing the world for Christ better than losing what He has for us. I look back over my decision now and am deeply contented for the Lord’s grace. I still work for Christ: there’s no retirement. If I had joined the Military, the Government would have long retired me by now. But the soldier of Christ never grows too old for God.
The power of the Holy Spirit that I received that memorable night gave me great boldness for service. While earlier it would be difficult for me to speak straight for 10 minutes, now I witnessed passionately about Jesus. As the love for evangelism grew stronger each day, I realized that my village was not enough for me. Obviously, this meant the difficult decision to step beyond by leaving home. I was deeply attached to my parents, sisters, and brothers; so, leaving home was not something imaginable for them. But the love of Christ beckoned me to a higher calling.
FIRST STEPS
At the age of 20, I left home by faith in God. But I didn’t go too far. The Spirit led me to a neighboring town called Kunnamkulam where there was already a little Pentecostal fellowship. There is a pool about 4 miles away from this town where Thomas the Apostle is believed to have baptized the earliest converts to Christianity in this land. The believers here were very receptive when they saw me and immediately arranged for a week of special meetings. Soon, a man went about the streets ringing a large bell and announcing loudly about the meetings. That night the place was jam packed. This was my first public speaking opportunity as I had never preached like this before. But the Lord’s hand was upon me. I still remember the message God delivered by me that night. First things are not easily forgotten. I spoke on the topic “Life’s Journey” from the Gospel account of the disciples’ journey by night across the Galilean Sea. Following that night, a revival broke out in that place. I stayed in that town for six months following this and saw people being water baptized every week during my ministry there.
Pastor K. V. Kurien came to this town at this same time and I was refreshed to find a brother with whom I was able to more efficiently serve Christ here. We would preach the gospel from house to house during the day and speak at the meetings in the evening. I used to rise up early in the morning and go along the streets announcing the good news of Christ with a loud voice. We started fresh work in several surrounding places and the work started then has never been abated. Oppositions were not slow in coming. Once, while we were on way for a baptismal service, a drunken man, instructed by some opposing Christians, confronted us and started hurling coarse revilements at us. However, as he drew closer to our group he suddenly grew calm and then broke down with a repentant heart. God worked in the heart of this man. But this didn’t stop the opposition. While the baptismal service was going on, a few men jumped into the water and splashed mud at us; but this didn’t disparage us, for we knew the difference between light and darkness and the fact that those inclined to the world could never favor the things of God.
In Kunnamkulam, I used to live in a little room attached to the church; and during free times during the day I used to sit in prayer inside the church. A young man used to pass by every day and mock me whenever he saw me praying. I never answered him but continued in prayer. One day, however, he stopped by and entered the church. I welcomed him lovingly and gave him a seat. Then I witnessed to him about Christ and His salvation. The young man was convicted; he knelt down beside me and prayed the Lord for forgiveness. Not many days after he wanted to be water baptized. But his parents, being Orthodox Syrian Christians, opposed his desire. They threatened him saying that if he got baptized then both he and the one who baptized him would immediately see death. But I said to him, “If you are ready to be baptized, then for Christ’s sake, we will face death together and not fear the consequences.” The young man complied and was baptized sending the terror of devil into his own bosom. Later on, he came to be known as Pastor Kocchunni of the church at Cochin.
I and Pastor K. V. Kurien continued ministering in this area reaching out to several surrounding villages and towns. We went through several times of trials and tears. But the Lord’s faithfulness never ceased; neither did the zeal in our hearts. After six months, I returned to Travancore to my home.
But I didn’t return to stay back. Two weeks later, God led me to the city of Kottayam. The way God took me there was quite intriguing. I was on way to a place called Munnar with my friend. However, on reaching Kottayam, we found out that we didn’t have money for two bus tickets. I, therefore, had to stay back while my friend bought the ticket and went to Munnar. There was a Pentecostal church in Kottayam called Faith Home and I went there intending to spend that night and leave in the morning. But God had other plans, for when I reached there I met Pastor P. M. Philip who asked me if I could work with him for some time in this place. I felt it a good idea and spent the next few months preaching the gospel to the people of this city and the surrounding places.
Story based on Kurien Thomas's God's Trailblazer (Bombay: GLS Press, 1986).
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