Keys to the city

[skyrider]

LOOK AT THIS....

Abundant Life Movement [in India].....in 1954? 1955?

This "abundant life movement" must refer to E. Stanley Jones' work/movement in India......this was BEFORE wierwille ever arrived in India.

Click here

REPORT OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES ENQUIRY COMMITTEE, MADHYA PRADESH

------------------------------

VOLUME I

PART I

CHAPRER I. - INTRODUCTION

The Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee was appointed by a Resolution of the Government of Madhya Pradesh No. 318-716-V-Con., dated the 14th of April, 1954 (Appendix I).

2. It was represented to Government from time to time that the conversion of illiterate aboriginals and other backward people was effected by the Christian Missionaries either forcibly or through fraud or temptations of monetary gain, and the Government were informed that the feelings of non-Christians were being offended by conversions brought about by such methods. The Christian Missionaries repudiated before Government these allegations and charged local officials and non-Christians of harassment and as the State Government found that an agitation was growing on either side, it considered it desirable in. the public interest to have a thorough enquiry made into the whole question. This Committee was, therefore, appointed, with Dr. M. Bhawani Shankar Niyogi, M.A., LL.M., LL.D., Ex-Chairman, Public, Service Commission, Madhya Pradesh, and retired Chief Justice, High Court of judicature at Nagpur, as Chairman, and Shri Ghanshyam Singh Gupta, B.Sc., LL.B., Ex-Speaker, Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Durg, Shri Seth Govind Das, M. P., Jabalpur, Shri Kirtimant Rao, B.A. M.L.A., Ahiri, Tahsil Sironcha, District Chanda, Shri S. K. George, M.A., B.D., Professor, Commerce College, Wardha, and Shri B. P. Pathak, M.A., LL.B., Secretary to Government, Madhya Pradesh, Public Health Department, as members. Seth Govind Das resigned membership on 8th May, 1954 due to his preoccupation with other work and was substituted by Shri Ratanlal Malviya, B.A., LL.B., M. P., Manendragarh, (vide Resolution No. 419-860-V-Con., dated 8th May, 1954). On his appointment to the Madhya Pradesh Cabinet, Shri Kirtimant Rao also resigned and was succeeded by Shri Bhanupratapsingh Giri Raj Singh Deo, M.P., of Komakhan, Tahsil Mahasamund, District Raipur, (vide Resolution No. 18-279-XXX-MR, dated 4th January, 1955).

3. The Committee was entrusted with the task of making a thorough enquiry into the whole question and to make recommendations on a review thereof from historical and other points of view.

4. The Committee was authorised to frame its own procedure for conducting the enquiry and to appreciate the circumstances in which the Government considered it necessary to appoint this Committee, access to certain files of Government was permitted. On going through all the relevant material, the Committee thought it necessary and desirable to meet representative members of the contestant parties at various important centres in the State and to ascertain the specific points in the controversy. The Committee undertook a tour of the following 14 districts :-

(1) Raigarh. (8) Akola.

(2) Surguja. (9) Buldana.

(3) Raipur. (10) Mandla.

(4) Bilaspur. (11) Jabalpur.

(5) Amravati. (12) Betul.

(6) Nimar. (13) Chhindwara.

(7) Yeotmal. (14) Balaghat.

Seventy-seven centres were visited and an approximate number of 11,360 people were contacted. 375 written statements were received and the Committee took down notes at each centre. To gain firsthand knowledge of the working of the various Mission institutions, the Committee visited institutions like hospitals, schools, churches, leper homes, hostels, etc., maintained by the various Missions operating in Madhya Pradesh and also had an opportunity of contacting local people amongst whom activities of the Missions were carried on and also the areas in which the various Missions were functioning. A copy of the tour programme is appended (Vol. II). The persons whom we interviewed came from about 700 villages and the statements of a large number of spokesmen from amongst them were recorded.

5. On the vital matter of religion, which is ordinarily surcharged with emotion, occasionally there was a flare-up of vehemence but such occasions were extremely rare, as ample precaution was taken at the outset of the proceedings to explain the object of the enquiry as being to clear up doubts and disputes that may exist and to promote goodwill, friendliness and peace among the various sections of the people. The exploratory work of the Committee accordingly proceeded very smoothly and helpfully, except for two minor incidents, at Takhatpur in Bilaspur district and Jabalpur. At Takhatpur Shri Ottalwar, Advocate, who was the only spokesman addressing the Committee on behalf of a large concourse of rural people, made some critical remarks of a political nature on the admission made by Rev. Maqbul Musih that he had received Rs. 38,000 from America for the Abundant Life Movement......

<snip>

[Twinky]

Good work, Skyrider, on finding all this stuff.

Great thread, this, makes some excellent points. One of those areas left over from PFAL that no-one had opportunity to challenge and probably rarely ever thought about. Yet more "advertising puff."

[waysider]

"He said his master was so-and-so, a member of Parliament in New Delhi..."

Call me crazy. It just seems like if someone gave you a license to preach in all of India, as well as all the other countries in the Far East, the least you could do would be to remember his name.

[skyrider]

==============================

vpw went to India, hooked up with Williams, rode Williams' coattails all over

India, accepted honors based on being Williams' associate (like the key to the

city), and reported based on complaints of Williams when he returned.

Compared side-by-side, vpw was a rank amateur compared to Williams, and the

idea of Williams working FOR vpw is silly. I'm sure Williams wouldn't have taken

the idea seriously,

any more than Billy Graham or Oral Roberts would have taken seriously this

unknown guy suggesting "a collaboration of equals" when they were household names

and he was very much an unknown.

vpw had a consistent history of lying, using the work of others and putting his own

name on it, and wildly exaggerating his own accomplishments.

It seems fair to say that Dr. I.S. Williams was a prominent Christian man as president of the All-India Federation of National Churches........BUT the "christian element" was/is a small sliver in a country populated by vast religions, of which Hindu and Muslin reign.

At the Jains Convention, a three-day HINDU event.....Dr. I.S. Williams had entree and an invitation. After he spoke, Williams was the translator when wierwille preached to the people. How big of splash did wierwille make? Or, was this when many took time for a bathroom break?

LOTS of political and religious men were pillars of the Indian society....as christianity fought the headwinds in India. Even Dr. I.S. Williams was far down the hierarchy of the religious establishment. Thus, wierwille's "15-minutes in the spotlight was merely like a drop in the Indian Ocen of Influence."

<_<

Edited August 12, 2010 by skyrider

[waysider]

I sang with The Beatles!

(I listen to the radio when I shower.)

[waysider]

Maybe they should have given VPW The Key To The Highway.

[Broken Arrow]

Yeah Skyrider, I just want to also lend my thanks for taking the time to gather this information and share it with the rest of us.

[waysider]

Yeah Skyrider, I just want to also lend my thanks for taking the time to gather this information and share it with the rest of us.

A big thanks from me, as well.

[chockfull]

This is indeed an enlightening uncovery - thanks much, guys.

One thing it leads to start questioning is what exactly would VPW's motivation be to take such a trip? It was a very extreme move, and I've heard Don W share on his confusion with the reasons that he had as a teenager. They sold cars, belongings, etc. all to travel overseas, to do an itinerary? Leaving JP and Sarah behind with relatives for a year? Very extreme behavior.

We've heard the TWI party line and spun story about VPW seeing that the Word wasn't really moving as an interdenominational effort among the churches, and he really needed to prove it would. So there were the seeds of the grandiose marketing scheme being planted, the WOW concept.

But as we've seen with so many things, there's the party line spin doctored version, then there is that which is closer to reality. What is the reality here we're seeing? Was VPW on the outs with his denomination? Did he leave to avoid a confrontation about allegations concerning his secretary and an affair? Then when he returned he wrote the Dilemma of Christian Missions thing that really rubbed the denomination the wrong way and ultimately led to his leaving to go out on his own. Was that too a coverup and an excuse to spin a more noble reason for leaving to cover up a more personal one?

Interesting thoughts.

[skyrider]

This is indeed an enlightening uncovery - thanks much, guys.

One thing it leads to start questioning is what exactly would VPW's motivation be to take such a trip? It was a very extreme move, and I've heard Don W share on his confusion with the reasons that he had as a teenager. They sold cars, belongings, etc. all to travel overseas, to do an itinerary? Leaving JP and Sarah behind with relatives for a year? Very extreme behavior.

We've heard the TWI party line and spun story about VPW seeing that the Word wasn't really moving as an interdenominational effort among the churches, and he really needed to prove it would. So there were the seeds of the grandiose marketing scheme being planted, the WOW concept.

But as we've seen with so many things, there's the party line spin doctored version, then there is that which is closer to reality. What is the reality here we're seeing? Was VPW on the outs with his denomination? Did he leave to avoid a confrontation about allegations concerning his secretary and an affair? Then when he returned he wrote the Dilemma of Christian Missions thing that really rubbed the denomination the wrong way and ultimately led to his leaving to go out on his own. Was that too a coverup and an excuse to spin a more noble reason for leaving to cover up a more personal one?

Interesting thoughts.

Why the India itinerary?

I see two distinct reasons why wierwille went to India.

1) In 1944, wierwille attended an E. Stanley Jones Ashram in North Carolina. The powerful influence that Jones commanded at his conferences and all his writings made a distinct impact on the young wierwille........Click here

2) In 1953, after wierwille took BG Leonard's class twice, Bishop Pillai's visit to Van Wert also had a profound impact on wierwille. At age 36, wierwille was prime for reaching beyond the pail of his church.

In the summer of 1953 vpw's brother harry was in Tennessee and one evening attended a nearby Baptist church in Chattanooga. That evening, the guest speaker was Bishop KC Pillai. Invitations were extended for Pillai to speak at the Van Wert Church where vpw was pastorate. For six weeks, pillai taught wierwille eastern customs [Light Through an Eastern Window.

Bishop Pillai left the United States for India in December 1954 and set the groundwork for the wierwilles to visit India. In making these arrangements, Dr. I.S. Williams from Bombay was to be their host.....whose influence and local church gave wierwille access to preach in India. The wierwille's began preparations to travel abroad.....to England [Oct-1955], to India [Nov 1955--Feb 1956], to Egypt [Feb 24-27 1956] and a short tour of israel/syria and many european countries [Mar/Apr 1956].

Vpw's salary from the van wert church (minus what he paid for a replacement minister for eight months), monetary gifts from family and church friends, the wierwilles determined that $2000 would be taken care of by the church and $8000 by the radio program. Still not enough.....the wierwilles sold their car and household furniture.

So......this eight-month tour abroad gave vpw [and mrs.] an extended "road trip" after 11 years as pastor in van wert, ohio. Upon their return to the USA, on Apr 21, 1956.....a flurry of family arrangements, meetings, church business, dad wierwille bequeathed the farm to his three sons, classes, etc. took place. The publishing of The Dilemma of Foreign Missions in India initiated a pressured undercurrent from the church. In August 1957, wierwille resigned from St. Peter's Church in Van Wert and work towards The Way ministry as of December 1957 had begun.

Edited August 12, 2010 by skyrider

[Thomas Loy Bumgarner]

I am surptrised that the consistory gave him an 8 month sabbatical and that the NW Synod of Ohio of the E&R church permited it.

[skyrider]

I am surptrised that the consistory gave him an 8 month sabbatical and that the NW Synod of Ohio of the E&R church permited it.

Thomas......perhaps, St. Peter's Church consented to the "wierwille sabbatical" to give them

time to have church board meetings and consider their options?

IMO....it seems obvious that wierwille was NOT invested to furthering St. Peter's work and

was his goals were self-serving. More than likely, the church welcomed this interim period.

Is there any wonder why the church struck wierwille's name from their clergy registry?

All of wierwille's boastings to re-write his past may have fooled the 1970's youth.....but

church boards, and elders and India Missionary Boards SAW THRU the veiled chest-pumping.