'Janata Darbar' of Arvind Kejriwal and Moses of the Bible

On this Saturday (11th January, 2014), the Delhi Chief Minister from the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal, and his ministers sat outside the Delhi Secretariat to personally hear the public grievances and to redress them.

The Delhi Public had such a large number of grievances and according to news reports, more than 7,000 people turned up for the event. Kejriwal, in spite of all kinds of refusal for security, had to run for cover to his office surrounded by a protection cordon to avoid a stampede.

This reminded me of the mistakes of Moses, the popular leader in the Old Testament of the Bible, and the wise counsel of his father-in-law Jethro. Here is that event as described in the Message Version of the Bible in the Book of Exodus Chapter 18 Verses 13-27.

13-14 The next day Moses took his place to judge the people. People were standing before him all day long, from morning to night. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What’s going on here? Why are you doing all this, and all by yourself, letting everybody line up before you from morning to night?”

15-16 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me with questions about God. When something comes up, they come to me. I judge between a man and his neighbor and teach them God’s laws and instructions.”

17-23 Moses’ father-in-law said, “This is no way to go about it. You’ll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you—you can’t do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men—men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible—and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They’ll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They’ll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they’ll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you’ll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also.”

24-27 Moses listened to the counsel of his father-in-law and did everything he said. Moses picked competent men from all Israel and set them as leaders over the people who were organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They took over the everyday work of judging among the people. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but in the routine cases they were the judges. Then Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law who went home to his own country.

This is possibly the first time in history where a decentralized organization was setup. According to Wikipedia  Moses lived in the time period of 1391-1271 BC. Aam Aadmi Party is talking about decentralizing decision making process. But when it came to grievance redresses it was trying to do it in a centralized way and failed on the first day somewhat like what Moses did initially.

I know that from the above Bible passage many lessons can be learnt without actually trying them by trial and error. Here is another passage from the Bible that reflects that thought taken from the First Book of Paul to the Corinthians Chapter 10 Verses 11 and 12.

11-12 These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.

People, irrespective of time and space, are designed and created by the Almighty God in the same way. So, irrespective of cultures they will behave in similar way in similar situations. The Bible is often described as the Maker's Manual of Human Beings.The Bible Illustrations cover very large number of situations of Human Dynamics and can be used as excellent Case Studies on Human Behavior.

Update on 14th January, 2014.

Aam Aadmi Party has decided to cancel Janata Darbars. Now will only take online complaints.

Update on 22nd January, 2014

Enjoy the following 'Politoon' from India Today Group.

Dishoom- dishoom at AAP's Janata Darbar.

Update on 3rd February, 2014

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Who is the Parampita of Aam Aadmi Arvind Kejriwal?

The day Arvind Kejriwal took oath as the Chief Minister of Delhi at the Ramlila Maidan, I was watching the event in TV.

In Arvind's speech I heard the word Parampita and it stirred something within me. I have watched many Christian programs in the SHUBHSANDESH TV channel and I don't remember any one using the word Parampita in those programs. The only place I am sure that I have heard the word Parampita is in the popular Christian Song "Parampita ki hum stuti gayen". If you have not heard that song you can click on the following video to listen to that song.

Later on when I read about the event I noticed that Arvind thanked God "Parampita Parmeshwar, Parmatma, Ishwar, Allah and Wahe Guru". That got me thinking. Is the Parampita that Arvind mentioned and the Parampita that I am thinking of, are they the same or are they different? After doing some Google search I am now convinced that they are different. Arvind was referring to "Parampita Parmeshwar" and I was thinking of the "Parampita" worshiped in the song that I have mentioned.

I have no way of knowing the mind of Arvind Kejriwal. So I have no way of knowing if Arvind used the word Parampita to refer to the God of the Bible or some other God. In the initial stage I thought that Arvind was referring to the God of the Bible since he covered the Gods of many religions. The results of Google Search on "Parampita Parmeshwar" points to many different sects and none of them point to the God of the Bible.

Since I don't know who is the Parampita of Arvind, I was wondering do I have a definite idea about my Parampita. The first stanza of the above song states:

Parampita ki hum stuti gayen

woh hi jo bachata hamein

saare papo'n ko karta kshama

saare rogo'n ko karta changa

This stanza gives three attributes of Parampita. He saves us (from what?), He forgives us of all our sins and He heals us from all our diseases. Of this, only the second attribute is more important to the primary cause of Arvind Kejriwal, in that of fighting corruption.

What is corruption? When I looked at Wikipedia I found this definition. In philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. So corruption originates in the spiritual or moral part of the human being. So if corruption is to be contained then it must be contained in the spiritual or the moral part of the human being.

That is why I believe that corruption cannot be contained unless people change from the inside. No amount of punishment is going to deter corruption if people do not change from the inside.

In the world's scheme of things the corrupt are punished according to the law of the land. Arvind Kejriwal clearly recognizes that unless there is a strong anti-corruption law the corrupt cannot be punished. But will severe punishment eliminate corruption? I don't think so.

The God of the Bible does not recommend punishment for corruption. He knows that the human nature is corrupt from the inside. So He wants the corrupt human nature to be changed so that the corruption in the human nature is removed. He removes this by forgiving the human being bound to corruption. That is what the third line of the above stanza refers to.

Arvind Kejriwal's solution to corruption is severe punishment. The solution of the God of the Bible to corruption is repentance first followed by forgiveness.

I believe that the God of the Bible has forgiven all my past, present and even future sins. That gives within me a great peace that is beyond all understanding knowing that the Creator of this Universe loves me and has His best intentions for me as my heavenly Father, the Parampita. His solution is repentence followed by forgiveness and not punishment for the corrupt nature that I inherited in this world.

Update on 3rd February, 2014

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Watch! Is 2013 significant in God’s Biblical Calendar?

My introduction to blood moons

I first heard about the coming four blood moons from Pastor John Hagee’s sermons telecast in GOD TV some times in the last quarter of 2012. Since then I have searched Google many times on this topic and continue to be fascinated and intrigued by this subject.

What is a blood moon

A blood moon is a total Lunar Eclipse. It is called a blood moon because at the time of total lunar eclipse the moon appears red. Check this NASA image for a sample.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/66796main_overcash1_med.jpg. NASA also has a web site http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html where it maintains details of all Solar and Lunar eclipses for a 5000 year period starting from 2000 BC to 3000 AD.

Pastor Mark Biltz's Discovery

Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries using the NASA site discovered an interesting pattern in the total lunar eclipses. He observed that during certain time periods there were four successive blood moons and all of them fell on the first day of festivals in the Jewish lunar calendar. He observed that this has happened only a few times since the birth of Jesus Christ and around all these periods something very significant seem to have happend to Jewish population.

Significant blood moon tetrad events

The years and its significance obtained from http://redmoonrapture.com/.

32-33	Crucifixion
162-163	Coliseum Martyrs and World Plague
795-796	Charlemagne halts Islamic invasion of Europe
842-843	After this Vatican was sacked by Arab forces
860-861	After this Greeks stop Muslim invasion
1493-1494	Jews evicted from Spain in 1492 on the same day of the Jewish calendar (9th of Av) when both the first and second temples were destroyed
1949-1950	State of Israel born in the year 1948
1967-1968	Six day war where Israel captures Jerusalem
2014-2015	?

Coming blood moon tetrad

... The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, (Rev 6:12)

One of this series of four lunar blood moons tetrad is around the corner in the very near future. I keep wondering like 1492 and 1948 could 2013 hold something significant to Jewish population. Iranian President Ahmadinejad is seeking nuclear weapons to wipe Israel from the map of the world. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel)  Would the God of Israel, who neither slumbers nor sleeps allow that (Psalm 121:4)? Could there be something else that is significant to the Jewish population? If so what?

Who arranged this tetrad?

Remember, only God can arrange or alter celestial events like four successive total lunar eclipses to fall exactly on the first day of Jewish festivals, a process that had possibly been set in motion from the days of Genesis 1.

9th of Av.

According to Jewish Calendar 9th of Av is the date on which both the first and the second Jewish temples were destroyed. Check http://www.his-forever.com/9th_of_av_events.htm for other significant events that occurred on 9th of Av. The 9th of Av for the next three years occur on:

• 2013: July 15-16
• 2014: August 4-5
• 2015: July 25-26

Could these days hold any events of future significance?

Pastor Hagee Sermon in YouTube

The 'The Coming Four Blood Moons' Sermon series of Pastor John Hagee is now available in YouTube. The total time of the three sermons is little more than two hours.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXij4d4rDb8
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1aYAFziZJs
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ev85axZ6I
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdsB6oHkYos
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy1rPSE8Oqk
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOvmkbCmuPM

Moving Jewish Calendar

I had earlier assumed that the Jewish festivals fell on a Biblical lunar calendar. Today (23rd January 2013) I have seen from http://www.wildolive.co.uk/calendars.htm how the Jewish calendar has varying  number of days in an year and is not strictly Biblical (Last sentence in 5th paragraph of the article). With that I am now not sure any more if the dates of the significant blood moon tetrad events are any more significant because of the varying Jewish Calendar.

Day of the Lord

I keep on wondering how close are we to the day of the Lord mentioned in the Bible.

Please feel free to mail me at pandiaraj at yahoo dot com.

Update on 3rd February, 2014

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My article in Church Magazine in English and Hindi

This is the article that I had earlier placed here as it has appeared in the Church Magazine.

English Version:

Hindi Version:

O! Ranjit, My Son

This poem was written by Ranjit's Mother's Sister Mrs. Anbu Samraj for Ranjit's Memorial Service on 21st August, 2010. In this poem she thinks through Ranjit's mind to write a poem like Ranjit would have written. She was with Ranjit when he wrote the poem "Mother, oh my mother dear".

O! Ranjit, My Son


“Twenty First” May, Nineteen Fifty
A flower blossomed in “Dawson’s tree”


I don’t know about your school days
You’re a loving child everyone says


You never hurt anybody’s feelings
So gracious you’re in your dealings


Your love to church freely flowing
And to “I.M.S.” over - flowing


I fail to understand God’s mystery
Which ended up your precious history


The church was your worship place
And here only you ended your race


18th August, Two Thousand Ten
You left us all, to be in “Heaven”

This is a poem that my brother-in-law Ranjit wrote for the memorial service of his mother Hephzibah Devadason who passed away on 27th December, 1996.

Mother, oh my mother dear

1. 
   
   
   Mother, oh my mother dear
   You were always very near
   As I spent this whole year
   Without worry or any fear
   
2. 
   
   
   As the days draw near
   I’m really beginning to fear
   Without you, mother dear
   How’d be the coming year?
   
3. 
   
   
   Mother, you spent your whole life
   As my father’s loving wife
   Your love to children freely flowing
   And to grandchildren overflowing
   
4. 
   
   
   Sharing with others was your nature
   Caring was in your blood, I’m sure
   You were of a different kind
   Loving, honest and being kind
   
5. 
   
   
   Be it Charles or Motilal
   You were like a mother to all
   This Church was your worship place
   And here only you ended your race
   
6. 
   
   
   Thirty eight years in DTEA School
   You didn’t lose your patience or cool
   The whole lot of the teaching crowd
   For you mother, is feeling proud
   
7. 
   
   
   Your neighbours talk so high of you
   For me, it is nothing new
   You were like an Onida TV
   Owner’s pride & neighbours envy
   
8. 
   
   
   You spent Christmas in good cheer
   With family in my house this year
   But in the same night, mother dear
   You made us all stand in tear
   
9. 
   
   
   You were put in ICU
   But I hardly could see you
   The doctors couldn’t locate your vein
   The prayers & medicines went in vain
   
10. 
    
    
    I gave you water and my blood
    Why did the doctors pronounce you dead
    I fail to understand this mystery
    Which ended your precious history
    
11. 
    
    
    Yours was a life so beautiful
    Yours was a life so meaningful
    Yours was a life so purposeful
    Yours was a life complete & full
    

D.S. Ranjit Kumar
December 31, 1996

He sent His WORD and healed them

Does God heal us today? Do we see that in our Church today? In the Tuesday Prayer Cell, I continuously see the number of people needing healing increasing, and it does not seem to decrease. Week after week, we religiously plod through the list in prayers. In the many years that I have been attending the Prayer Cell, I have not seen any demonstrated case of healing. So is it still true that God sends His Word and heals us? The last time I checked the King James Version of the Bible, Psalms 107:20 still reads “He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”

The verse reads “He sent His word”. Who or what is this word? Who heals? Is it God or is it His word? According to my understanding of the verse, it is not God who is doing the healing but it is His Word that He has sent that is doing the healing. God seems to have already provided His Word with whatever healing power that is necessary to provide the healing.

John 1:14 says “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”. In the gospel days, this Word-made-flesh healed ALL that came to Him. Today, where is this Word-made-flesh that can heal us?

What do we do when we fall sick? Are we surrendering our bodies to the Word-made-flesh? No. Instead, we are surrendering our bodies to the doctors and their words. Do doctors speak words of faith? No! They speak words of fear. They will bring out all the medical equipment at their disposal and find out what is wrong with the body. They will tell you all that can go wrong with the body if something is not done immediately, to shock you into fear, so that you can act on the fear and seek their healing. Now you are hooked by fear and you are so much in torment and you cannot even offer a word of prayer. So, you start seeking prayer from every one you know and one more name is added to the umpteen prayer lists.

Is there a better way? In my understanding of the Word of God, I do not see any verse in the Bible that says something like “Pray for the sick”. Matthew 10:8 says “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” The church is commanded to “Heal the sick” and not “Pray for the sick”. So why do we waste so many hours praying for the sick, instead of healing the sick?

Mark 16:17-18 says, “These signs shall follow them that believe: In my name … they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” So, looks like we have ceased to believe, we have ceased to use His Name and stopped laying hands on the sick. We have stopped being responsible for what God has told us to do, and throw the responsibility back to God by praying for the sick. When God has not told us to “Pray for the sick”, He is not responsible to answer that prayer of idle words.