The Politics of Hollywood with Andrew Breitbart
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Definindo Discipulado
http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/definindo-discipulado/
Peter Amsterdam
[At the Heart of Discipleship]
Recentemente tenho meditado no que significa ser um discípulo de Jesus. O discípulo é seguidor dos ensinamentos de outra pessoa; alguém que adota e ajuda a disseminar tais ensinamentos. Sendo assim, um discípulo de Jesus é alguém que aceita e segue os Seus ensinamentos, isso quer dizer que os adota e segue, aplica em sua vida. É alguém que ajuda de alguma maneira, participando e facilitando a disseminação das boas novas da salvação, a mensagem de Jesus.
Pessoas que acreditam aceitam os ensinamentos de Jesus como verdadeiros; acreditam nEle, acreditam que Ele é o seu Salvador e são salvas. Em João 3:16 Jesus deixou claro que, para ser salvo, basta acreditar. Ele disse “todo o que nEle crer não pereça, mas tenha a vida eterna.” Acreditar é maravilhoso! Leva à vida eterna, à eternidade com Deus.
Trilhar o caminho do discipulado significa que a pessoa decide acrescentar ação à sua crença. É ir além da aceitação dos ensinamentos, envolve seguir e aplicar os ensinamentos no seu dia a dia. É o caminho que conduz a ser ativo na divulgação dos ensinamentos. A palavra discípulo vem do vocábulo grego mathetes (pronuncia-se ma-tay-teis), que quer dizer aprendiz. No Novo Testamento a palavra só é utilizada nos Evangelhos e no livro dos Atos. Estabelece o contraste entre mestre e aprendiz. Também implica que o aprendiz é alguém que aderiu aos ensinamentos do mestre, que aceita os ensinamentos não só em crença, mas em vida, aplicando e seguindo-os.
Os discípulos são de extrema importância para a disseminação do cristianismo e cumprimento da incumbência de Jesus aos primeiros discípulos, que originalmente receberam a tarefa de levar as boas novas ao mundo na sua época. Enquanto discípulos dos dias de hoje, temos a tarefa de levar o Evangelho ao mundo da nossa época.
Cada vez que alguém apresenta Jesus para outra pessoa, que por sua vez faz o mesmo, é um microcosmo da história do cristianismo. O cristianismo segue adiante porque discípulos ajudam a disseminar os ensinamentos de Jesus. A linhagem espiritual ou genealogia passa de pessoa a pessoa, de geração a geração, porque aqueles que acreditam seguem e espalham o ensinamento.
Cada cristão é descendente espiritual distante dos primeiros cristãos, daqueles que conheceram Jesus e foram os primeiros a pregar as boas novas. Eles pregaram o evangelho, ensinaram outras pessoas, e as fundamentaram na fé em um processo que se repetiu vez após vez, século após século. O cristianismo existe hoje porque, ao longo da história, pessoas fizeram aquilo que Jesus ensinou aos primeiros seguidores — pregar o Evangelho e fazer discípulos. Portanto, a existência de discípulos é vital para a continuidade do cristianismo. Testemunhas fieis jamais saberão plenamente o fruto que terão por anos, até mesmo por gerações, futuras.
Um discípulo é uma pessoa, famosa ou não, extrovertida ou não, conhecida ou desconhecida, que acredita nos ensinamentos de Jesus e se empenha para colocá-los em prática. Isso inclui divulgar e ensinar o evangelho. Discípulos são incrivelmente importantes, já que é por meio deles que outras pessoas conhecem Jesus e a salvação. É através deles que o cristianismo cresce e o evangelho é pregado em todo o mundo.
O caminho do discipulado
Quando Jesus diz para você renunciar a tudo que possui, ou como diz em outras traduções, “se primeiro não resolver abrir mão de todas as outras coisas”; ou “se nãodeixar tudo o que tem”, Ele está falando de prioridades.
Em princípio, renunciar, abrir mão ou largar suas posses é tudo uma questão de prioridade. O que vem primeiro, Deus ou suas coisas? Como discípulo, comprometido a amar Deus com todo o seu coração, alma e mente, a prioridade é Deus. Não suas coisas, sua casa ou seus investimentos, mas Deus.
Não há registros de que Jesus tenha pedido a todos que queriam seguir a Ele para abrirem mão de todas as suas posses. José de Arimatéia era um homem rico e um discípulo. Visto que foi considerado discípulo, pode-se concluir que seus bens materiais estavam na prioridade correta com relação a Deus. Esse é o mesmo José que providenciou o túmulo de Jesus e que usou sua posição e influência para solicitar a Pilatos a liberação do corpo para ser sepultado.
Já no caso do jovem rico, o chamado foi outro:
Falta-lhe ainda uma coisa. Venda tudo o que você possui e dê o dinheiro aos pobres, e você terá um tesouro nos céus. Depois venha e siga-me". Ouvindo isso, ele ficou triste, porque era muito rico. Vendo-o entristecido, Jesus disse: "Como é difícil para os ricos entrar no Reino de Deus!”[1]
Por quê? Porque muitas vezes, quando se tem riquezas, é mais difícil priorizá-las devidamente com relação a Deus, principalmente se Ele pede que você abra mão de tudo ou compartilhe suas posses com outros. O jovem rico não conseguia abrir mão de suas riquezas e ficou triste quando percebeu isso. Suas posses eram a sua prioridade.
Renunciar, abrir mão, largar, está tudo relacionado a ceder a Deus o direito de posse dos bens materiais; os bens passam a ser dEle, e você é simplesmente aquele que deles cuida. Se em sua caminhada de discipulado Deus lhe pede para deixá-los para trás, você o faz, porque Ele é o legítimo proprietário de todas as coisas. O discípulo é leal a Deus, não a coisas. Sua lealdade é para com o chamado que Deus lhe deu.
Quando Jesus diz “Siga-me,” Ele está falando com você pessoalmente. O caminho que Ele o chama para seguir é de discipulado. É um caminho individual e diferente para cada seguidor de Jesus. No caso do jovem rico o caminho que Jesus lhe deu foi o de vender tudo o que tinha; o de outra pessoa pode ser ficar com os bens materiais e seguir o chamado de Deus de outra forma. O princípio é que o discípulo pertence a Deus, sua lealdade primordial é para com Deus, e ele ama a Deus o bastante para fazer o que Ele pede.
Um princípio de discipulado é amar a Deus de tal maneira que está disposto a seguir o que Ele mostrar, independentemente do custo. O custo pode ser diferente para cada pessoa. Então, quando Jesus diz, “Aquele que não carrega a sua cruz e não me segue não pode ser meu discípulo”,[2] está falando de sua própria cruz, sua cruz individual a qual deve carregar. A vocação que Ele lhe dá é sua, e sua vontade em cumpri-la se reflete na disposição de ser leal primeiramente a Deus e ao chamado que Ele lhe deu. Quando Ele lhe diz “siga-Me,” está pedindo para colocar-se em Suas mãos, dar a Ele o máximo, entregar-se a Ele, colocar-se na posição certa em relação a Deus, que é soberano. Jesus estabeleceu a prioridade devida quando disse:
Ame o Senhor, o seu Deus de todo o seu coração, de toda a sua alma, de todo o seu entendimento e de todas as suas força.[3]
Entender o princípio de amar a Deus, permanecer em Sua palavra, e a posição que Ele merece em relação às posses e aos amores desta vida é um princípio norteador que pode ajudar nas decisões que frequentemente precisamos tomar na vida. O princípio básico é que Deus —nosso Criador, Salvador e o Espírito que em nós habita —requer e merece nosso amor, lealdade e prioridade. Esse é o ponto de partida para o discipulado. É amando a Deus que damos o primeiro passo na direção do discipulado.—Peter Amsterdam
Publicado originalmente em outubro de 2011. Adaptado e republicado em fevereiro de 2015.
[1] Lucas 18:22–24.
[2] Lucas 14:27.
[3] Marcos 12:30.
Peter Amsterdam
[At the Heart of Discipleship]
Recentemente tenho meditado no que significa ser um discípulo de Jesus. O discípulo é seguidor dos ensinamentos de outra pessoa; alguém que adota e ajuda a disseminar tais ensinamentos. Sendo assim, um discípulo de Jesus é alguém que aceita e segue os Seus ensinamentos, isso quer dizer que os adota e segue, aplica em sua vida. É alguém que ajuda de alguma maneira, participando e facilitando a disseminação das boas novas da salvação, a mensagem de Jesus.
Pessoas que acreditam aceitam os ensinamentos de Jesus como verdadeiros; acreditam nEle, acreditam que Ele é o seu Salvador e são salvas. Em João 3:16 Jesus deixou claro que, para ser salvo, basta acreditar. Ele disse “todo o que nEle crer não pereça, mas tenha a vida eterna.” Acreditar é maravilhoso! Leva à vida eterna, à eternidade com Deus.
Trilhar o caminho do discipulado significa que a pessoa decide acrescentar ação à sua crença. É ir além da aceitação dos ensinamentos, envolve seguir e aplicar os ensinamentos no seu dia a dia. É o caminho que conduz a ser ativo na divulgação dos ensinamentos. A palavra discípulo vem do vocábulo grego mathetes (pronuncia-se ma-tay-teis), que quer dizer aprendiz. No Novo Testamento a palavra só é utilizada nos Evangelhos e no livro dos Atos. Estabelece o contraste entre mestre e aprendiz. Também implica que o aprendiz é alguém que aderiu aos ensinamentos do mestre, que aceita os ensinamentos não só em crença, mas em vida, aplicando e seguindo-os.
Os discípulos são de extrema importância para a disseminação do cristianismo e cumprimento da incumbência de Jesus aos primeiros discípulos, que originalmente receberam a tarefa de levar as boas novas ao mundo na sua época. Enquanto discípulos dos dias de hoje, temos a tarefa de levar o Evangelho ao mundo da nossa época.
Cada vez que alguém apresenta Jesus para outra pessoa, que por sua vez faz o mesmo, é um microcosmo da história do cristianismo. O cristianismo segue adiante porque discípulos ajudam a disseminar os ensinamentos de Jesus. A linhagem espiritual ou genealogia passa de pessoa a pessoa, de geração a geração, porque aqueles que acreditam seguem e espalham o ensinamento.
Cada cristão é descendente espiritual distante dos primeiros cristãos, daqueles que conheceram Jesus e foram os primeiros a pregar as boas novas. Eles pregaram o evangelho, ensinaram outras pessoas, e as fundamentaram na fé em um processo que se repetiu vez após vez, século após século. O cristianismo existe hoje porque, ao longo da história, pessoas fizeram aquilo que Jesus ensinou aos primeiros seguidores — pregar o Evangelho e fazer discípulos. Portanto, a existência de discípulos é vital para a continuidade do cristianismo. Testemunhas fieis jamais saberão plenamente o fruto que terão por anos, até mesmo por gerações, futuras.
Um discípulo é uma pessoa, famosa ou não, extrovertida ou não, conhecida ou desconhecida, que acredita nos ensinamentos de Jesus e se empenha para colocá-los em prática. Isso inclui divulgar e ensinar o evangelho. Discípulos são incrivelmente importantes, já que é por meio deles que outras pessoas conhecem Jesus e a salvação. É através deles que o cristianismo cresce e o evangelho é pregado em todo o mundo.
O caminho do discipulado
Quando Jesus diz para você renunciar a tudo que possui, ou como diz em outras traduções, “se primeiro não resolver abrir mão de todas as outras coisas”; ou “se nãodeixar tudo o que tem”, Ele está falando de prioridades.
Em princípio, renunciar, abrir mão ou largar suas posses é tudo uma questão de prioridade. O que vem primeiro, Deus ou suas coisas? Como discípulo, comprometido a amar Deus com todo o seu coração, alma e mente, a prioridade é Deus. Não suas coisas, sua casa ou seus investimentos, mas Deus.
Não há registros de que Jesus tenha pedido a todos que queriam seguir a Ele para abrirem mão de todas as suas posses. José de Arimatéia era um homem rico e um discípulo. Visto que foi considerado discípulo, pode-se concluir que seus bens materiais estavam na prioridade correta com relação a Deus. Esse é o mesmo José que providenciou o túmulo de Jesus e que usou sua posição e influência para solicitar a Pilatos a liberação do corpo para ser sepultado.
Já no caso do jovem rico, o chamado foi outro:
Falta-lhe ainda uma coisa. Venda tudo o que você possui e dê o dinheiro aos pobres, e você terá um tesouro nos céus. Depois venha e siga-me". Ouvindo isso, ele ficou triste, porque era muito rico. Vendo-o entristecido, Jesus disse: "Como é difícil para os ricos entrar no Reino de Deus!”[1]
Por quê? Porque muitas vezes, quando se tem riquezas, é mais difícil priorizá-las devidamente com relação a Deus, principalmente se Ele pede que você abra mão de tudo ou compartilhe suas posses com outros. O jovem rico não conseguia abrir mão de suas riquezas e ficou triste quando percebeu isso. Suas posses eram a sua prioridade.
Renunciar, abrir mão, largar, está tudo relacionado a ceder a Deus o direito de posse dos bens materiais; os bens passam a ser dEle, e você é simplesmente aquele que deles cuida. Se em sua caminhada de discipulado Deus lhe pede para deixá-los para trás, você o faz, porque Ele é o legítimo proprietário de todas as coisas. O discípulo é leal a Deus, não a coisas. Sua lealdade é para com o chamado que Deus lhe deu.
Quando Jesus diz “Siga-me,” Ele está falando com você pessoalmente. O caminho que Ele o chama para seguir é de discipulado. É um caminho individual e diferente para cada seguidor de Jesus. No caso do jovem rico o caminho que Jesus lhe deu foi o de vender tudo o que tinha; o de outra pessoa pode ser ficar com os bens materiais e seguir o chamado de Deus de outra forma. O princípio é que o discípulo pertence a Deus, sua lealdade primordial é para com Deus, e ele ama a Deus o bastante para fazer o que Ele pede.
Um princípio de discipulado é amar a Deus de tal maneira que está disposto a seguir o que Ele mostrar, independentemente do custo. O custo pode ser diferente para cada pessoa. Então, quando Jesus diz, “Aquele que não carrega a sua cruz e não me segue não pode ser meu discípulo”,[2] está falando de sua própria cruz, sua cruz individual a qual deve carregar. A vocação que Ele lhe dá é sua, e sua vontade em cumpri-la se reflete na disposição de ser leal primeiramente a Deus e ao chamado que Ele lhe deu. Quando Ele lhe diz “siga-Me,” está pedindo para colocar-se em Suas mãos, dar a Ele o máximo, entregar-se a Ele, colocar-se na posição certa em relação a Deus, que é soberano. Jesus estabeleceu a prioridade devida quando disse:
Ame o Senhor, o seu Deus de todo o seu coração, de toda a sua alma, de todo o seu entendimento e de todas as suas força.[3]
Entender o princípio de amar a Deus, permanecer em Sua palavra, e a posição que Ele merece em relação às posses e aos amores desta vida é um princípio norteador que pode ajudar nas decisões que frequentemente precisamos tomar na vida. O princípio básico é que Deus —nosso Criador, Salvador e o Espírito que em nós habita —requer e merece nosso amor, lealdade e prioridade. Esse é o ponto de partida para o discipulado. É amando a Deus que damos o primeiro passo na direção do discipulado.—Peter Amsterdam
Publicado originalmente em outubro de 2011. Adaptado e republicado em fevereiro de 2015.
[1] Lucas 18:22–24.
[2] Lucas 14:27.
[3] Marcos 12:30.
“Study to Show Thyself Approved Unto God”
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/study-show-thyself-approved-unto-god/
By D. Brandt Berg
Audio length: 13:05
Download Audio (11.9MB)
The more you study the Word of God and really dig into the Word, the more it will become a constant source of pleasure to you—a source of enjoyment, inspiration, encouragement, edification, information, and continuous guidance. Real study time is not only reading time, but also listening to God time. The minute you begin to stop, look, and listen to the Lord’s recorded written Word, you are immediately putting yourself in the position of being willing to listen, so then the Lord can begin to speak to you and give you His living Word.
To feed from the Word and hear from the Lord this way, to spiritually graze in the green pastures by the beautiful still waters of His Word that He has for you,1 you need to bear in mind what my teacher used to tell me in typing class, that the most important thing is not speed, but accuracy. When you’re reading the Word of God, it’s accuracy that’s important. So it’s important that we read His Word carefully, prayerfully, and thoughtfully.
You can miss a lot of the meaning, the real depth of what the Lord’s talking about, unless you stop to really think about it sometimes and apply the Word to your personal situation, and ask, “How is that true and how is that so?” Not with a questioning or a doubtful attitude, but one of faith, knowing that you can learn even more lessons if you search further and dig deeper.
Remember also, the Lord loves a mystery. He likes for you to learn to dig things out. To find the real precious jewels, you sometimes have to do a little mining, a little digging, and put a little effort into it. He said, “I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.”2
As with the most precious metals and jewels, gold and silver and diamonds, you have to hunt for them and dig them up and find them. He purposely doesn’t make it too easy for you. He says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.”3
If you will diligently and prayerfully labor in His Word, He will greatly reward you, and you will agree with David, who exclaimed, “Thy Word is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.”4
Effects of the Word of God
The Word of God always has an effect. No one can hear or read the Word of God without being somehow influenced. Everyone who hears the Word is affected one way or another. Here are some of the dramatic effects of reading and living in His Word:
Life and victory: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.”5
The wonderful water of God’s Word can revive you even if you seem to be spiritually dead. Even if you’ve neglected the Word for a long time, if you’ll only drink it in again, you can again become beautiful and fruitful. Just as we’ve seen seemingly “dead” trees, shrubs, plants and gardens which were utterly barren and lifeless and leafless spring to life and become productive again when properly watered, so the water of His Word can bring you, though spiritually withered, new life and virtual resurrection if you will soak in His Word.
It’s reading the Word that kindles the desire to change in your heart—because you will be inspired, revitalized, renewed, invigorated, challenged, enthused, and filled with faith from His words.
His Word seeds excite you, and they invite you, and they exorcise you, and they right you, and they plight you, and sometimes they bite you, or indict you, or fight you, or enlight you (make you glow), and enheight you, and enmight you (make you strong), and requite you, or right you, or sight you, or invite you and delight you.
The Word is the secret of victory or of defeat. It’s the secret of success or failure. It all depends on how you treat the Word, and how you live in it and live on it, or try to go on without it. That’s the secret. The secret of power and victory and overcoming and fruitfulness and fire and life and warmth and light and spiritual maturity is the Word!
Growth and strength: If you stay close to the Word and really let it change you, you will grow steadily, and mature into what the Lord wants you to be. A lot of your spiritual growth is up to you and how much nourishment you receive.
Jesus told us that His words should abide in us, and that “as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.”6 So in order to have the strength to do our work for the Lord, we have to spend time getting filled up with His Word. As the old saying goes, “You cannot do the Master’s work without the Master’s power.” And to get it, you must spend time with the Master feeding from His Word.
Even getting out the message to others is not as important as getting into the Word yourself first. We need to get the Word in as well as out. Otherwise, you’ll never have the spiritual strength and stamina or the spirit that will sustain your bodily strength and stamina to keep going, unless you are drinking in the Word and being spiritually nourished and strengthened by it yourself first.
Faith: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”7
You get faith from reading the Word. Faith is built by faithful study of God’s Word. You have it because you’re full of the Word of God.
The best way to encourage your faith is to bury yourself in the Word of God. Encourage your faith with His Word and hang on to the Lord! Just read His Word and you will believe.
Freedom: “If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”8
The only way on God’s earth to find true freedom is to continue in God’s Word. There’s no other way to be truly free. His Word is His truth, and His Word is what makes us free, nothing else. So if you want freedom, it comes from living in the Word, knowing the Word, and following the Lord and His truth.
Cleansing: “Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.”9
The only way to be thoroughly cleansed from the spiritual stench of the old, stinking, soiled, filthy, dirty clothes of your old past life and your sinful self is a good bath in the pure water of the Word to thoroughly wash away all the old pollutions and any further desire or taste for them.
So if you need cleansing, go to the washing of the pure water of the Word, and let God’s truth cleanse you and rid you of all the filth and hogwash of this world and your own sinful heart.10 “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word ... Cleansed with the washing of water by the Word.”11
Spiritual ballast: “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.”12
If your faith is founded on God’s Word, it doesn’t even matter how you feel, you know the Word is still the same. God’s Word is still just as effective and unchanging, regardless of your feelings. And it is your faith in His Word that counts and will pull you through in times of severe trials or tests. “For this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”13
The Word of God is your spiritual ballast, your hope of salvation, that will keep you steady and on the firm foundation of truth. If you retain His Word in your heart, and your faith is founded on the Bible, they will preserve you no matter what you may go through. Even though you may sometimes be weakened, you will still stand if you remain on God’s firm foundation of faith, balanced firmly with His Word.
Our weapon: “The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”14
The Word of God is our spiritual sword that drives away and defeats the Devil every time we use it. When Jesus Himself was tempted by the Devil, He fought back with the Word.15 So when the Enemy comes around, take out your sword and whack away. He can’t take it. He’ll run every time. Sock it to him with the sword of the Spirit! The Word! That’s the stuff that victories are made of!
Nothing scares the Devil like the Word of God. He just can’t take it; he can’t stand the Word. The best way to put the Enemy out of action is with the Word. Just bury him in a flood of truth, and he and all his doubts and fears will flee.
The Word is also a light that drives away and defeats the Enemy’s darkness. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”16 When the Devil attacks you with his doubts and his fears and his discouragement and his temptations and all the rest, turn on the light of God’s Word and the shadows will flee.
Surgical scalpel: “The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”17
When witnessing to others, never underestimate the power of the Word. There is absolute power in the Word of God. This sword of His Spirit is sharp enough to pierce the hardest armor, so that the warmth of His Spirit of love can flow into their empty hearts. As a witness for the Lord, you can wield His Word to cut and remove the cancers of evil that afflict so many today.
His Word is the most powerful weapon in the world, sharper than any two-edged sword, sharper than any other weapon on earth. It can do more than split atoms; it has greater power than the hydrogen bomb! For it can even divide asunder the soul and the spirit of man. And can change hearts and change minds and win people to Christ and His cause.
Help us, Lord Jesus, to fill our hearts and minds with Your Word so that we really get close to You and get to know You and to depend on You. Help us to saturate ourselves with Your Word. Inspire our hearts by Your wonderful Word.
Help us to read and put into practice all the things Your King David said about Your Word in that marvelous Psalm 119. He talks so much about Your Word, and that’s where he got his strength and his life and his wisdom and his power and his victory. David lived in Your Word night and day, as we do also, in trying to teach it to others. In Jesus’ name.
Let’s keep the connection strong with His Word and His Spirit, His truth and His love, in humility and obedience, amen?
Compiled from the writings of D. Brandt Berg, originally published November 1988. Adapted and republished March 2015. Read by Jon Marc.
1 See Psalm 23.
2 Isaiah 45:3. The Bible scriptures in this post are from the King James Version (KJV).
3 2 Timothy 2:15.
4 Psalm 119:72.
5 Psalm 1:2–3.
6 John 15:4,7.
7 Romans 10:17.
8 John 8:31–32.
9 John 15:3.
10 Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 12:2.
11 Psalm 119:9; Ephesians 5:26.
12 Psalm 37:31.
13 1 John 5:4.
14 Ephesians 6:17.
15 See Matthew 4:1–10.
16 Psalm 119:105.
17 Hebrews 4:12.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Missionary Stories- Witnessing to Gypsies
http://www.clement-le-cossec.org/index.php?p=1_8_Missionnary-stories
With Clément Le Cossec
An interview made by Farid Djilani-Sergy
http://www.paroles.ch/ (Radio Réveil)
I – A CALL FOR HELP
Farid Djilani-Sergy : Clément Le Cossec, you are the founder of the Mission évangélique tsigane. It was born in the fifties following a spiritual Revival among the Gypsies people, including all their tribes. For 1996, you consider that 500 000 gypsies have come to faith in Jesus Christ in Europe. First question : why did you commit yourself toward this population so badly considered ?
Clément Le Cossec : First I think that it is right to specify that the various gypsy tribes – manouches, roms, etc. – make one people. A people at the margin of our societies as you emphasize it, but who has its own traditions, its languages, its history. Why did I turn toward this people rather that the Britons I was thinking first to evangelize ? To understand it, we have to go back after the war, in 1946. I was 25. A young gypsy about 20 years old has come to church where I was the pastor, in Lille. He urged me to go and visit his mother who was ill. When I arrived in their poor little house, the mother was lying on a mattress, on the ground (that struck me). I knelt by her, I told her of Jesus-Christ, his love and the power he had to heal her. She had faith and Christ healed her. The young man was musician, but his guitar had no cord. I invited him to come and play at church I was in charge of, after having given him the possibility to repair his guitar. He came and then made me meet other Gypsies. It was my first contact with these people who live in mobile caravans. Once the war was over, they went away, going out of the camps in which they had been kept. So I had been near them for a month, praying for one or another sick person introduced to me. They had heard of the healing of the gypsy mother who had come to me. They had the opportunity to witness to the community, then after a month, they left. I have forgotten them, life had his normal course if I can say so.
The History repeats itself
A few years later, in 1950, I met another gypsy family, but this time in Normandy, more precisely in Lisieux. I met a gypsy woman I was told the story : a bible peddler, Mr Roger, had a booth on the market place. A gypsy from the manouches tribe, Marie-Jeanne Duval nicknamed Azi, had been given a flyer where, on the back, was written the address of an evangelic church of the town. Some time later, one of his sons gets ill, the doctor says that there is no hope of healing. She remembers of the flyer she had been given, asks somebody to read the address for her and goes to the church. She is weeping a lot, the pastor of the church asks for her situation, and he went to the hospital with her. The whole church prayed for the healing of his son and the Lord here again accomplished a miracle, the young man was healed. The whole family came to faith in Jesus-Christ.
Two years later, in Brest, I meet again some of the people who were converted in Lisieux. They were in despair because no pastor was willing to baptize them by immersion. They had faith but they were not legally married according to the French laws. The marriage act was difficult to get because they needed to be resident at least 21 days in the town ; and the police were throwing them away every 48 hours ! One of the gypsies, a young man of 28, nicknamed Mandz, said to me : « Since the pastors do not want to baptize us, I have decided to go with my wife Pounette to a river. I will put my Bible on the grass. I cannot read but I know it is written : He who will believe and be baptized will be saved (1). After that, I will baptize my wife, and Pounette will baptize me. » When I heard him, it made an echo in me, I could not stay insensitive to his cry of distress. It is then that I endeavoured to help gypsies. Several came to faith, we have practiced baptisms in the sea, and the Revival spread like wildfire. A year later, several hundred of gypsies were converted. They claimed to me God servants to train them but there were none. I had come to Brittany to make a pioneer work among the Britains, for there were only 2 evangelic churches for 3 millions inhabitants in this large western region. And I happened to be facing this nomadic population who asked me for pastors. Referring to the guidance of the apostle Paul, who was writing to his work companion, Tite, to establish elders in new created churches (2) I understood that I should follow the same way. After having asked who among the christian gypsies wanted to serve God, four young men who wanted to be pastors have been settled at that time. They learn to read and I gave them Bible courses. They spread with enthusiasm the good news of Jesus-Christ among their people. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Lord was with them making miraculous healings.
Massive conversions
Six years after this meeting in Brest, in 1952, three thousand gypsies came to faith in Jesus Christ.The need was immense, so what to do ? I have met young pastors who have accepted to take in hand the communities I had contributed to start in various towns of Brittany. I was very busy, but it is at that time that I have made « the step of faith », as we are used to saying. I have left in a young pastor's hands the church, or « the community » of Rennes, which had been created with the help of the evangelist and missionary Douglas Scott. And I went aimlessly on the roads with the gypsy people. What discoveries ! I had to learn their traditions, their language, their way of life, and finally be adopted, all that has required time. The gypsy families are international. Cousin So-and-So in Paris, nephew So-and-So in New-York, parents in Stockholm or Buenos Aires. The evangelisation has begun with Europe : Belgium, Holland and Germany, but also Spain, Portugal and Italy. I took with me some young gypsy preachers that I trained.
- That insatiable mobility of the gypsies was finally an advantage for the spreading of the Gospel.
- Yes, and this missionary work still goes on today, especially in the Eastern countries. I had to go even further, to Canada, United States, Mexico or Argentina. I have travelled in 44 different countries bringing the Gospel message to the gypsy people. Afterwards I helped them to get organized in « christian churches » and men were trained to lead them.
A shared destinee
- Were they only the circumstances which led you to develop this special ministry ?
- When I was converted, at 14 years of age in Le Havre, I said to my mother : « When I am an adult I will announce the gospel to the poor ! » I had this preoccupation in my heart because our family was very poor. We had known suffering, misery and illness. My father was a seaman. Having become war disabled (that of 1914-1918) he was designated a lighthouse keeper of the Jument by Ouessant island. Then he was transferred to Normandy. We had been somehow scorned as Britains. My mother was dressed as a Britain, she had a headdress, she had to change clothes. She has suffered a lot of this situation. On my side, a teacher had expressed to me a thought which was not pleasant to Britain ears. I could understand the rejection and the scorn the gypsies live. When we met Christ during evangelic meetings in Le Havre, everything changed and we had then a happy life. I wished to share it with the poorest. I received a bible teaching and I carried on my studies until one day we had to go because the war was declared. It was in 1939. I have been asked whether I wished to take over the mobilised pastors. I accepted, here again in a move of faith. It was adventure, I gave up the preparation of a future job, a life traced. When I met the gypsies I talked you about, I realized they were rejected, abandoned and poor. I said to myself : I must help them. I did not receive a special revelation, no, there was a need, somebody had to respond to it. I can say that the process triggled especially from the moment when the gypsies in Brest asked me to assist them. Somehow, I was in the situation of Paul who had to answer the call of the Macedonian(3). We had to found « rolling churches », as they were called.
II – A ROLLING CHURCH
- From sedentary, you become a traveller. You are in the thirties, you are married and you have children in charge. Was that not too difficult ?
- The decision to follow the road of the gypsies was not made carelessly. We did not have the security of a salary, this comfort that the parish pastors know. We did not have any guaranty. We could not rely too much on gypsies for they were poor. On the contrary, it was our part to help them. It was not only a question of subsistence, also we had to travel, hundreds of miles, but during all these years the Lord has answered present. Let's say that friends have taken in their heart this missionary action.
Of suite in ideas
- Have you been welcome in the vast community of gypsies and correctly integrated ?
- Yes, there has been no problems. They were very thirsty of God and had the desire to follow Jesus Christ, as a result they had a deep respect for me. Somehow, I was considered as sent by God, without needing to be paternalist. Everything went on in a reciprocal confidence. I have contributed to train men, who took over the evangelisation work of their people under their responsibility, so that I retire and leave them room. Having received a sufficient bible teaching, they transmitted it at their turn, as the apostle Paul advocated it and as the disciples and future apostles of Jesus had been sent on the roads after three years of teaching with their Lord… For this reason, a little bible rolling school in a caravan has been founded, but the callings becoming more and more numerous, we bought a property to be able to welcome all the future preachers. For example, we had 220 students in 1996. A bible school was also opened in India, another is now in progress. The future preacher receives a basic bible teaching for four to six months, then he is placed for three years under the responsibility of old preachers who have a good experience of the Word – the Bible. After this training period, if he is able to teach well and a good testimony of him is given, he is accepted as a preacher. At his turn, when he gets older, he can be in charge of youngsters. It is a rotation that asks to operate correctly on the bases settled and filled by other persons.
- How long does it take to train a future servant of God ?
- A lot of time ! At least, ten years….Youngsters were converted at the beginning of the Revival, they were between 20 and 30. When they were in the forties, they had acquired 10 years experience, that enabled to enlarge the work when they could train other people. The evangelical gypsy Mission is today led by the gypsies themselves, in France, Spain or India.
- How many pastors or preachers are counted in the « Mission » ?
- They are now 6 000 preachers just in Europe. When we think at the road travelled since the meeting in Brest when they were only 4 ! They are 4 000 in Spain, the other 2 000 are spread in the rest of Europe. France has 1 000. Not counting those in the United States or in India. There, the work has started about 30 years ago. It is known that the gypsies came originally from this region of the earth, and I had the desire to go in 1966, the year I made contact with the gypsies of India. Travelling through villages, I could see their misery and with all my heart bring my contribution to join them and help them. There are now more than 250 gypsy preachers in India, and according to governmental official statistics, there should be 60 000 gypsy villages. It is a great missionary field where it is passionating to work. We felt useful. There also, these poor gypsies are thirsty of God.
A people looking for God
- Which is the religion of the non-christian gypsies ?
- Generally, they have adopted the religion of the countries they were going through. In India they are hindus, in other countries they are muslims, orthodoxes in Eastern Europe or in Russia, lutherans in Finland, and they called them generally catholic in France.
- Is it not for them facade religions ?
- It is difficult to say. But we must recognized that they are not much practising, even though, for example, a good number go to pilgrims.
- They do not have a religion of their own ?
- No, not really. They believe in the existence of a transcending god who bears various names according to the tribes. My mission consisted mainly in making Jesus-Christ known to them. In no way the idea was to lecture them with morale, in saying them that they had not to drink or lie or steal, or tell fortune. I knew that in receiving the message of Christ, everything would change in their life, as it is the case for all men or women who turns to Him. Their change of behaviour could only be the work of Christ.
- How did you make yourself understood ?
- I spoke in French in France ; in India, in English, but we had always interpreters. The gypsy preachers generally speak three languages : the English, that of the State in which they live and their own idiom enriched with expressions, syntax or words borrowed from various countries.
Radical changes
- How is manifested in practice the good receptivity of the gospel message ?
- We cannot say that all gypsies are, as some people still think, rascals or chicken robbers. It is a cliche. I have met quiet gypsies, intelligent, without problems, and not at all fighter ! Some others were rascals, as there are everywhere, among all the people in the world. For example, a gypsy woman was saying to me that since his husband conversion, it was now heaven in her caravan and no more hell. She explained that before he was back home at three in the morning, he was drunk and stroke her. Now it is he who in the morning brings her coffee in bed ! We can talk here of a radical change. The non-gypsy population was surprised to observe such changes. People came from afar to see these people we generally had fear of and who were now so peaceful. When I was a boy it happened that my mother showing the gypsies was upset against me saying : « You see, these gypsies over there, they will take you. » She also gave in to the gypsy cliche « children robber ». but if you are among gypsies, you can hear the gypsy woman say to his kid : « Be a good boy, otherwise the gadjo there will marav you, » in other words « the man who is not a gypsy will strike you. » Suspicion, as we can see, is reciprocal. When we came to faith to Jesus-Christ these prejudices disappear. Normally ! There is always cleaning to do inside ourselves ! But let's say that generally the life of a person who rely on Jesus-Christ is changed, whatever he is gadjo or gypsy.
- The conversion of gypsies has been a factor of integration, in the church, but also and more generally in the society ?
- Yes, although there are some reluctances from some gadjé, about marriage for example. As far as I can judge, I think there is no problems in brotherly relationships, gypsies are now welcome in churches. When the movement of sedentarisation has become sensitive we have thought to create communities of their own. Racist considerations or of apartheid have nothing to do in this decision. We realized that when more than a hundred of newly converted gypsies joined a small church of 50 members serious problems appeared, even though everybody had a good willing. Four or five persons at a time can easily integrate a group, but beyond a certain number the adaptation is more difficult. It is because of their number that gypsy churches have been settled. Let's note that in France half of the gypsy population has come to faith in Jesus-Christ. If 50 % of the French population became truly christian, according to the Gospel, this would be wonderful ! We have now more than a hundred churches in France, among which twelve in Paris. It is now about 20 years that the gypsy evangelical Mission has adhered to the Fédération protestante de France. We can say that the christian gypsies have open themselves to others and seek for brotherly understanding. It is not rare that gypsy preachers preach in lutheran parishes or other christian denominations. Our relationships with all evangelical churches are good.
III – A FAITH WHICH KNOCKS OVER THE MOUNTAINS
- What specific things do gypsy christians bring to the church and the world ?
- What is striking in the gypsy is his faith. We can speak of the coaler faith. The gypsy is as a child, his faith is pure in the meaning that it is whole. He often says to himself : « If the Lord has said it or promised it, that must happen. »
A biblical anchoring
- It is a faith which can knock over the mountains.
- Yes, and that is why the spiritual Revival among this people has been accompanied by numerous healings. Jesus has said that the sick will be healed, therefore the gypsy does not doubt of it. It is an acting faith. That said, the gypsies are not choir children. Their conversion testimony which is from a heavy past has so more impact. Soon, conventions have been organized and settled, gathering today 5 000 caravans, that is to say about 20 000 gypsies. The authorities were invited – maires, deputes, prefets, ministers, etc. I can say that the gypsies were not embarrassed to talk about Jesus-Christ. They have a boldness which maybe lacks to the christians of more classical churches. Not abled to read or write, the « arab telephone » and direct testimony, better than the flyiers thrown in letter boxes, have enabled a quick spreading of the gospel. Its impact has been great.
- Does the Bible exist in gypsy language ?
- Yes it was integrally translated by Mattéo Maximoff, a well known gypsy writer. There are other translations, in roumain for example, thanks to the preacher Chamu. The difficulty consisted in translating a text in an oral language, but we cannot deny that these works have contributed to implant the good Word in the hearts and the spirits of the gypsies open to the gospel. We mainly use the Bible in the country language in which the gypsies we talk to are, and that they know generally well.
A priority : preach Christ
- I guess you have not limited yourself only to the announce of Jesus-Christ. Do you speak of «the follow-up work ».
- Yes, but first we have to « preach Christ » according to the apostles formula. It has always been a priority for me. What we do in the framework of the gypsy evangelical Mission is not only bringing a material help, what a lot of humanitarian organizations do each in their sector and with competence. We bring a plus, Christ himself. We do not lose the sight that our first goal is to speak of Christ, the living bread come down from heaven.(4) We have to understand that there is no possible salvation for man out of Jesus-Christ. He has come to earth, he has lived as a poor, he has brought the good news of salvation by grace. Speaking of himself, he said that « God has so loved the world that he has given his son. »(5) God is love, this love has been revealed by the gift of Jesus-Christ to men. Our message is crucial for the future of human being, because Christ not only came to earth to bear our sins, to expiate them, and forgive us, but Christ has risen from the dead, he is alive, and he is with us every day. He gives the strength we need to carry on the road he has traced for us to bring his gospel. The apostle Paul wrote that we have everything plentifully in Jesus-Christ (6). Jesus is not the property of a religion, he is, if we can say so, at the disposal of all the men God wants to save. Jesus said to the disciples to go to the world, to make at their turn disciples, and to teach them all he has prescribed.(7) The salvation message has to be well understood. If we do not make by ourselves the experience of conversion how could we communicate to others the spiritual realities the gospel supports and the testimony which goes with it ? It is essential to assure the doctrinal bases to a true life of faith. Being not only a converted but also a disciple, we can then impart what we have received. The apostle Paul, he again, asks his companion Timothee to confide what he has heard from his mouth « to men able to teach it to others. »(8) This makes a snow ball, but everything starts with Jesus-Christ. We do not spread the doctrine of a simple man, of a chief or a guru, we proclaim the gospel of the Son of God. We are at his service, and personally, when putting myself to the service of gypsies, it is to Jesus-Christ that I surrender and I serve. I teach them to serve him also, and not to serve a man, whoever he his ! I was only a simple tool between God's hands. On a certain way the proselytism does not consist only in « bringing souls to Christ », as we say, but also to assure that they are effectively founded and rooted in Him. Of course a minimum of organization is needed, and it is why when a property could have been bought, a cultural association has been settled so that it was an association business, in other words the church, and not of a man. The structures of the gypsy Mission are there only for one objective : the progress of the gospel among the gypsy people. The material organization is so secondary, at the minimum level. Moreover, the gypsies love particularly freedom, they would not like to feel cramped in a too finicky organization.
The hazards of the nomadism
- Precisely, from the perspective of the material organization and especially the relationship the gypsy movement can have with the authorities, what can you say ?
- At first, it was difficult. There was the parking issue, the nomadic status has never really been accepted. Our action has always had a social dimension. Nothing more normal for a christian than to help his needy neighbour. I have settled another association with a more social aspect, to treat these parking questions. Many other problems were – and are still today – actual. Gypsies have learnt how to negotiate with local authorities, departmental or national.The situation is today far better than that it was about 40 years ago. The pending questions are now more at a european level.
IV – A SPIRITUAL REVIVAL WITH SOCIAL FALLOUTS
- Can you say that this spiritual Revival has had social fallouts and has contributed to a better aceptation of the gypsy population ?
- Yes, certainly. The gospel is a « power of life », its fallouts overtake the strict framework of what is called the « spiritual ». I give you an illustration.
Going to help gypsies of India
We have decided to do something in India, because I have been touched by the miserable situation of the gypsies from the Narikuravas tribe. The village chief had come to me and said : « See, our children receive only one rice meal per day. Help us to give them a second one. » I talked about it to christians who agreed to support the action I wanted to launch for the gypsies of India. So, a first boarding school was created, and today we have 18 boarding schools where we welcome 900 gypsy children we save from hunger, through a sponsorship system. We can see that here again the gospel leads us to act with charity.
- At the end, did you not favoured the sedentarisation of the gypsies ?
- No, not necesarily, because we have « moving churches ». Actually, it was the gypsies themselves who judged good to sedentarise. From a spiritual point of view that appear to them more advantageous. They could thus attend their church at any time. This sedentarisation process has favoured their alphabetisation, and a better knowledge of the Bible. Personally I consider that the travel should continue, I am against a too general sedentarisation. Most of them are sedentarized for six months per year, and travel the other six months, in the good season.
Go until the end
- You are 76, has the travel stopped ?
- Oh no ! Last year we have travelled a lot among which England and Holland.
- And in January we have gone again to India, where we still think of bringing our contribution. Maybe we will stop one day but, for the moment, my wife and myself, we are committed in an active retirement. We must go to the end. The pastor who was announcing the gospel in Le Havre and because of whom I got converted was 20 years of age more than me. When we went together to Madagascar to serve God, about 6 years ago, he was 90 ! With God's grace, we can always go further than we think.
- You can be pleased, I think and with good reason, of the life you have lived. Is it finally difficult to be useful to others ?
- All is difficult, you know. When I was young, I wanted to be a long way sea-captain (my school friend has become one), I would have travelled all around the world. Each commitment has its constraints. Finally, I have travelled a lot, with as a premium the joy to serve Christ in various conditions.
- We must have a spirit of sacrifice to serve Christ ?
- Yes, but if we love him, we are happy to serve him, even though we had to suffer painful annoyances. It is by love to him and for others that we do it, not counting on gratefulness or glory. If we have the good state of mind, believe me, there is always something to be useful for. We will always find persons around us who need the salutary presence of Christ, which we have to announce. Whatever our age or abilities, if we are decided to follow the way of Christ, there is at least a thing we all can do : to pray and witness a little, whatever the manner, about the love we have received from God. We have to persevere and be able to say like Paul at the end of his life, « I have completed the course. »(9)
Precisions
- The crowds who rushed around Jesus seem to be attracted especially by physical healings they were looking for. The interest and the popularity the gypsies have manifested in large numbers for Jesus were also self-interested ?
- I do not think so. We have to realize that the primitive church based its faith on an acting Christ. The apostles themselves after the Pentecost – the gift of the Holy Spirit -, were laying their hands, and miracles happened in the name of Jesus. Think at the apostle Peter whose shade healed the sick.(10) The miracle was a part of the message delivered by the apostles and I think today we must continue to get inspiration from this Spirit who animated the church of the first centuries. The gypsy faith has been founded on the person of Jesus-Christ and on the power of God, not on the miracles themselves. It is in that meaning that we can say that their conversion was not self-interested. And if there are miracles Christ is the author of them. The gypsies did not consider the preachers as healers, but as people sent by God, it is different. They know that it is Christ who heals, we have always insisted on that : it is Christ who saves and He who heals. He is at the center of our message, our action and our heart. I will add that it is not sufficient to reason, or put into equations in order to denounce better, or even ridicule what we are called to believe. The gypsies have this merit not to have erected on a pedestal and censored an intellect which I certainly do not deny the usefulness and the necessity when it is used properly. Maybe, because of that, they have more easiness to open their hearts to Christ and the gospel, what our materialistic societies have difficulty to realize. The question stays whole and we are all concerned : are we really thirsty of God ?
Footnotes:
With Clément Le Cossec
An interview made by Farid Djilani-Sergy
http://www.paroles.ch/ (Radio Réveil)
I – A CALL FOR HELP
Farid Djilani-Sergy : Clément Le Cossec, you are the founder of the Mission évangélique tsigane. It was born in the fifties following a spiritual Revival among the Gypsies people, including all their tribes. For 1996, you consider that 500 000 gypsies have come to faith in Jesus Christ in Europe. First question : why did you commit yourself toward this population so badly considered ?
Clément Le Cossec : First I think that it is right to specify that the various gypsy tribes – manouches, roms, etc. – make one people. A people at the margin of our societies as you emphasize it, but who has its own traditions, its languages, its history. Why did I turn toward this people rather that the Britons I was thinking first to evangelize ? To understand it, we have to go back after the war, in 1946. I was 25. A young gypsy about 20 years old has come to church where I was the pastor, in Lille. He urged me to go and visit his mother who was ill. When I arrived in their poor little house, the mother was lying on a mattress, on the ground (that struck me). I knelt by her, I told her of Jesus-Christ, his love and the power he had to heal her. She had faith and Christ healed her. The young man was musician, but his guitar had no cord. I invited him to come and play at church I was in charge of, after having given him the possibility to repair his guitar. He came and then made me meet other Gypsies. It was my first contact with these people who live in mobile caravans. Once the war was over, they went away, going out of the camps in which they had been kept. So I had been near them for a month, praying for one or another sick person introduced to me. They had heard of the healing of the gypsy mother who had come to me. They had the opportunity to witness to the community, then after a month, they left. I have forgotten them, life had his normal course if I can say so.
The History repeats itself
A few years later, in 1950, I met another gypsy family, but this time in Normandy, more precisely in Lisieux. I met a gypsy woman I was told the story : a bible peddler, Mr Roger, had a booth on the market place. A gypsy from the manouches tribe, Marie-Jeanne Duval nicknamed Azi, had been given a flyer where, on the back, was written the address of an evangelic church of the town. Some time later, one of his sons gets ill, the doctor says that there is no hope of healing. She remembers of the flyer she had been given, asks somebody to read the address for her and goes to the church. She is weeping a lot, the pastor of the church asks for her situation, and he went to the hospital with her. The whole church prayed for the healing of his son and the Lord here again accomplished a miracle, the young man was healed. The whole family came to faith in Jesus-Christ.
Two years later, in Brest, I meet again some of the people who were converted in Lisieux. They were in despair because no pastor was willing to baptize them by immersion. They had faith but they were not legally married according to the French laws. The marriage act was difficult to get because they needed to be resident at least 21 days in the town ; and the police were throwing them away every 48 hours ! One of the gypsies, a young man of 28, nicknamed Mandz, said to me : « Since the pastors do not want to baptize us, I have decided to go with my wife Pounette to a river. I will put my Bible on the grass. I cannot read but I know it is written : He who will believe and be baptized will be saved (1). After that, I will baptize my wife, and Pounette will baptize me. » When I heard him, it made an echo in me, I could not stay insensitive to his cry of distress. It is then that I endeavoured to help gypsies. Several came to faith, we have practiced baptisms in the sea, and the Revival spread like wildfire. A year later, several hundred of gypsies were converted. They claimed to me God servants to train them but there were none. I had come to Brittany to make a pioneer work among the Britains, for there were only 2 evangelic churches for 3 millions inhabitants in this large western region. And I happened to be facing this nomadic population who asked me for pastors. Referring to the guidance of the apostle Paul, who was writing to his work companion, Tite, to establish elders in new created churches (2) I understood that I should follow the same way. After having asked who among the christian gypsies wanted to serve God, four young men who wanted to be pastors have been settled at that time. They learn to read and I gave them Bible courses. They spread with enthusiasm the good news of Jesus-Christ among their people. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Lord was with them making miraculous healings.
Massive conversions
Six years after this meeting in Brest, in 1952, three thousand gypsies came to faith in Jesus Christ.The need was immense, so what to do ? I have met young pastors who have accepted to take in hand the communities I had contributed to start in various towns of Brittany. I was very busy, but it is at that time that I have made « the step of faith », as we are used to saying. I have left in a young pastor's hands the church, or « the community » of Rennes, which had been created with the help of the evangelist and missionary Douglas Scott. And I went aimlessly on the roads with the gypsy people. What discoveries ! I had to learn their traditions, their language, their way of life, and finally be adopted, all that has required time. The gypsy families are international. Cousin So-and-So in Paris, nephew So-and-So in New-York, parents in Stockholm or Buenos Aires. The evangelisation has begun with Europe : Belgium, Holland and Germany, but also Spain, Portugal and Italy. I took with me some young gypsy preachers that I trained.
- That insatiable mobility of the gypsies was finally an advantage for the spreading of the Gospel.
- Yes, and this missionary work still goes on today, especially in the Eastern countries. I had to go even further, to Canada, United States, Mexico or Argentina. I have travelled in 44 different countries bringing the Gospel message to the gypsy people. Afterwards I helped them to get organized in « christian churches » and men were trained to lead them.
A shared destinee
- Were they only the circumstances which led you to develop this special ministry ?
- When I was converted, at 14 years of age in Le Havre, I said to my mother : « When I am an adult I will announce the gospel to the poor ! » I had this preoccupation in my heart because our family was very poor. We had known suffering, misery and illness. My father was a seaman. Having become war disabled (that of 1914-1918) he was designated a lighthouse keeper of the Jument by Ouessant island. Then he was transferred to Normandy. We had been somehow scorned as Britains. My mother was dressed as a Britain, she had a headdress, she had to change clothes. She has suffered a lot of this situation. On my side, a teacher had expressed to me a thought which was not pleasant to Britain ears. I could understand the rejection and the scorn the gypsies live. When we met Christ during evangelic meetings in Le Havre, everything changed and we had then a happy life. I wished to share it with the poorest. I received a bible teaching and I carried on my studies until one day we had to go because the war was declared. It was in 1939. I have been asked whether I wished to take over the mobilised pastors. I accepted, here again in a move of faith. It was adventure, I gave up the preparation of a future job, a life traced. When I met the gypsies I talked you about, I realized they were rejected, abandoned and poor. I said to myself : I must help them. I did not receive a special revelation, no, there was a need, somebody had to respond to it. I can say that the process triggled especially from the moment when the gypsies in Brest asked me to assist them. Somehow, I was in the situation of Paul who had to answer the call of the Macedonian(3). We had to found « rolling churches », as they were called.
II – A ROLLING CHURCH
- From sedentary, you become a traveller. You are in the thirties, you are married and you have children in charge. Was that not too difficult ?
- The decision to follow the road of the gypsies was not made carelessly. We did not have the security of a salary, this comfort that the parish pastors know. We did not have any guaranty. We could not rely too much on gypsies for they were poor. On the contrary, it was our part to help them. It was not only a question of subsistence, also we had to travel, hundreds of miles, but during all these years the Lord has answered present. Let's say that friends have taken in their heart this missionary action.
Of suite in ideas
- Have you been welcome in the vast community of gypsies and correctly integrated ?
- Yes, there has been no problems. They were very thirsty of God and had the desire to follow Jesus Christ, as a result they had a deep respect for me. Somehow, I was considered as sent by God, without needing to be paternalist. Everything went on in a reciprocal confidence. I have contributed to train men, who took over the evangelisation work of their people under their responsibility, so that I retire and leave them room. Having received a sufficient bible teaching, they transmitted it at their turn, as the apostle Paul advocated it and as the disciples and future apostles of Jesus had been sent on the roads after three years of teaching with their Lord… For this reason, a little bible rolling school in a caravan has been founded, but the callings becoming more and more numerous, we bought a property to be able to welcome all the future preachers. For example, we had 220 students in 1996. A bible school was also opened in India, another is now in progress. The future preacher receives a basic bible teaching for four to six months, then he is placed for three years under the responsibility of old preachers who have a good experience of the Word – the Bible. After this training period, if he is able to teach well and a good testimony of him is given, he is accepted as a preacher. At his turn, when he gets older, he can be in charge of youngsters. It is a rotation that asks to operate correctly on the bases settled and filled by other persons.
- How long does it take to train a future servant of God ?
- A lot of time ! At least, ten years….Youngsters were converted at the beginning of the Revival, they were between 20 and 30. When they were in the forties, they had acquired 10 years experience, that enabled to enlarge the work when they could train other people. The evangelical gypsy Mission is today led by the gypsies themselves, in France, Spain or India.
- How many pastors or preachers are counted in the « Mission » ?
- They are now 6 000 preachers just in Europe. When we think at the road travelled since the meeting in Brest when they were only 4 ! They are 4 000 in Spain, the other 2 000 are spread in the rest of Europe. France has 1 000. Not counting those in the United States or in India. There, the work has started about 30 years ago. It is known that the gypsies came originally from this region of the earth, and I had the desire to go in 1966, the year I made contact with the gypsies of India. Travelling through villages, I could see their misery and with all my heart bring my contribution to join them and help them. There are now more than 250 gypsy preachers in India, and according to governmental official statistics, there should be 60 000 gypsy villages. It is a great missionary field where it is passionating to work. We felt useful. There also, these poor gypsies are thirsty of God.
A people looking for God
- Which is the religion of the non-christian gypsies ?
- Generally, they have adopted the religion of the countries they were going through. In India they are hindus, in other countries they are muslims, orthodoxes in Eastern Europe or in Russia, lutherans in Finland, and they called them generally catholic in France.
- Is it not for them facade religions ?
- It is difficult to say. But we must recognized that they are not much practising, even though, for example, a good number go to pilgrims.
- They do not have a religion of their own ?
- No, not really. They believe in the existence of a transcending god who bears various names according to the tribes. My mission consisted mainly in making Jesus-Christ known to them. In no way the idea was to lecture them with morale, in saying them that they had not to drink or lie or steal, or tell fortune. I knew that in receiving the message of Christ, everything would change in their life, as it is the case for all men or women who turns to Him. Their change of behaviour could only be the work of Christ.
- How did you make yourself understood ?
- I spoke in French in France ; in India, in English, but we had always interpreters. The gypsy preachers generally speak three languages : the English, that of the State in which they live and their own idiom enriched with expressions, syntax or words borrowed from various countries.
Radical changes
- How is manifested in practice the good receptivity of the gospel message ?
- We cannot say that all gypsies are, as some people still think, rascals or chicken robbers. It is a cliche. I have met quiet gypsies, intelligent, without problems, and not at all fighter ! Some others were rascals, as there are everywhere, among all the people in the world. For example, a gypsy woman was saying to me that since his husband conversion, it was now heaven in her caravan and no more hell. She explained that before he was back home at three in the morning, he was drunk and stroke her. Now it is he who in the morning brings her coffee in bed ! We can talk here of a radical change. The non-gypsy population was surprised to observe such changes. People came from afar to see these people we generally had fear of and who were now so peaceful. When I was a boy it happened that my mother showing the gypsies was upset against me saying : « You see, these gypsies over there, they will take you. » She also gave in to the gypsy cliche « children robber ». but if you are among gypsies, you can hear the gypsy woman say to his kid : « Be a good boy, otherwise the gadjo there will marav you, » in other words « the man who is not a gypsy will strike you. » Suspicion, as we can see, is reciprocal. When we came to faith to Jesus-Christ these prejudices disappear. Normally ! There is always cleaning to do inside ourselves ! But let's say that generally the life of a person who rely on Jesus-Christ is changed, whatever he is gadjo or gypsy.
- The conversion of gypsies has been a factor of integration, in the church, but also and more generally in the society ?
- Yes, although there are some reluctances from some gadjé, about marriage for example. As far as I can judge, I think there is no problems in brotherly relationships, gypsies are now welcome in churches. When the movement of sedentarisation has become sensitive we have thought to create communities of their own. Racist considerations or of apartheid have nothing to do in this decision. We realized that when more than a hundred of newly converted gypsies joined a small church of 50 members serious problems appeared, even though everybody had a good willing. Four or five persons at a time can easily integrate a group, but beyond a certain number the adaptation is more difficult. It is because of their number that gypsy churches have been settled. Let's note that in France half of the gypsy population has come to faith in Jesus-Christ. If 50 % of the French population became truly christian, according to the Gospel, this would be wonderful ! We have now more than a hundred churches in France, among which twelve in Paris. It is now about 20 years that the gypsy evangelical Mission has adhered to the Fédération protestante de France. We can say that the christian gypsies have open themselves to others and seek for brotherly understanding. It is not rare that gypsy preachers preach in lutheran parishes or other christian denominations. Our relationships with all evangelical churches are good.
III – A FAITH WHICH KNOCKS OVER THE MOUNTAINS
- What specific things do gypsy christians bring to the church and the world ?
- What is striking in the gypsy is his faith. We can speak of the coaler faith. The gypsy is as a child, his faith is pure in the meaning that it is whole. He often says to himself : « If the Lord has said it or promised it, that must happen. »
A biblical anchoring
- It is a faith which can knock over the mountains.
- Yes, and that is why the spiritual Revival among this people has been accompanied by numerous healings. Jesus has said that the sick will be healed, therefore the gypsy does not doubt of it. It is an acting faith. That said, the gypsies are not choir children. Their conversion testimony which is from a heavy past has so more impact. Soon, conventions have been organized and settled, gathering today 5 000 caravans, that is to say about 20 000 gypsies. The authorities were invited – maires, deputes, prefets, ministers, etc. I can say that the gypsies were not embarrassed to talk about Jesus-Christ. They have a boldness which maybe lacks to the christians of more classical churches. Not abled to read or write, the « arab telephone » and direct testimony, better than the flyiers thrown in letter boxes, have enabled a quick spreading of the gospel. Its impact has been great.
- Does the Bible exist in gypsy language ?
- Yes it was integrally translated by Mattéo Maximoff, a well known gypsy writer. There are other translations, in roumain for example, thanks to the preacher Chamu. The difficulty consisted in translating a text in an oral language, but we cannot deny that these works have contributed to implant the good Word in the hearts and the spirits of the gypsies open to the gospel. We mainly use the Bible in the country language in which the gypsies we talk to are, and that they know generally well.
A priority : preach Christ
- I guess you have not limited yourself only to the announce of Jesus-Christ. Do you speak of «the follow-up work ».
- Yes, but first we have to « preach Christ » according to the apostles formula. It has always been a priority for me. What we do in the framework of the gypsy evangelical Mission is not only bringing a material help, what a lot of humanitarian organizations do each in their sector and with competence. We bring a plus, Christ himself. We do not lose the sight that our first goal is to speak of Christ, the living bread come down from heaven.(4) We have to understand that there is no possible salvation for man out of Jesus-Christ. He has come to earth, he has lived as a poor, he has brought the good news of salvation by grace. Speaking of himself, he said that « God has so loved the world that he has given his son. »(5) God is love, this love has been revealed by the gift of Jesus-Christ to men. Our message is crucial for the future of human being, because Christ not only came to earth to bear our sins, to expiate them, and forgive us, but Christ has risen from the dead, he is alive, and he is with us every day. He gives the strength we need to carry on the road he has traced for us to bring his gospel. The apostle Paul wrote that we have everything plentifully in Jesus-Christ (6). Jesus is not the property of a religion, he is, if we can say so, at the disposal of all the men God wants to save. Jesus said to the disciples to go to the world, to make at their turn disciples, and to teach them all he has prescribed.(7) The salvation message has to be well understood. If we do not make by ourselves the experience of conversion how could we communicate to others the spiritual realities the gospel supports and the testimony which goes with it ? It is essential to assure the doctrinal bases to a true life of faith. Being not only a converted but also a disciple, we can then impart what we have received. The apostle Paul, he again, asks his companion Timothee to confide what he has heard from his mouth « to men able to teach it to others. »(8) This makes a snow ball, but everything starts with Jesus-Christ. We do not spread the doctrine of a simple man, of a chief or a guru, we proclaim the gospel of the Son of God. We are at his service, and personally, when putting myself to the service of gypsies, it is to Jesus-Christ that I surrender and I serve. I teach them to serve him also, and not to serve a man, whoever he his ! I was only a simple tool between God's hands. On a certain way the proselytism does not consist only in « bringing souls to Christ », as we say, but also to assure that they are effectively founded and rooted in Him. Of course a minimum of organization is needed, and it is why when a property could have been bought, a cultural association has been settled so that it was an association business, in other words the church, and not of a man. The structures of the gypsy Mission are there only for one objective : the progress of the gospel among the gypsy people. The material organization is so secondary, at the minimum level. Moreover, the gypsies love particularly freedom, they would not like to feel cramped in a too finicky organization.
The hazards of the nomadism
- Precisely, from the perspective of the material organization and especially the relationship the gypsy movement can have with the authorities, what can you say ?
- At first, it was difficult. There was the parking issue, the nomadic status has never really been accepted. Our action has always had a social dimension. Nothing more normal for a christian than to help his needy neighbour. I have settled another association with a more social aspect, to treat these parking questions. Many other problems were – and are still today – actual. Gypsies have learnt how to negotiate with local authorities, departmental or national.The situation is today far better than that it was about 40 years ago. The pending questions are now more at a european level.
IV – A SPIRITUAL REVIVAL WITH SOCIAL FALLOUTS
- Can you say that this spiritual Revival has had social fallouts and has contributed to a better aceptation of the gypsy population ?
- Yes, certainly. The gospel is a « power of life », its fallouts overtake the strict framework of what is called the « spiritual ». I give you an illustration.
Going to help gypsies of India
We have decided to do something in India, because I have been touched by the miserable situation of the gypsies from the Narikuravas tribe. The village chief had come to me and said : « See, our children receive only one rice meal per day. Help us to give them a second one. » I talked about it to christians who agreed to support the action I wanted to launch for the gypsies of India. So, a first boarding school was created, and today we have 18 boarding schools where we welcome 900 gypsy children we save from hunger, through a sponsorship system. We can see that here again the gospel leads us to act with charity.
- At the end, did you not favoured the sedentarisation of the gypsies ?
- No, not necesarily, because we have « moving churches ». Actually, it was the gypsies themselves who judged good to sedentarise. From a spiritual point of view that appear to them more advantageous. They could thus attend their church at any time. This sedentarisation process has favoured their alphabetisation, and a better knowledge of the Bible. Personally I consider that the travel should continue, I am against a too general sedentarisation. Most of them are sedentarized for six months per year, and travel the other six months, in the good season.
Go until the end
- You are 76, has the travel stopped ?
- Oh no ! Last year we have travelled a lot among which England and Holland.
- And in January we have gone again to India, where we still think of bringing our contribution. Maybe we will stop one day but, for the moment, my wife and myself, we are committed in an active retirement. We must go to the end. The pastor who was announcing the gospel in Le Havre and because of whom I got converted was 20 years of age more than me. When we went together to Madagascar to serve God, about 6 years ago, he was 90 ! With God's grace, we can always go further than we think.
- You can be pleased, I think and with good reason, of the life you have lived. Is it finally difficult to be useful to others ?
- All is difficult, you know. When I was young, I wanted to be a long way sea-captain (my school friend has become one), I would have travelled all around the world. Each commitment has its constraints. Finally, I have travelled a lot, with as a premium the joy to serve Christ in various conditions.
- We must have a spirit of sacrifice to serve Christ ?
- Yes, but if we love him, we are happy to serve him, even though we had to suffer painful annoyances. It is by love to him and for others that we do it, not counting on gratefulness or glory. If we have the good state of mind, believe me, there is always something to be useful for. We will always find persons around us who need the salutary presence of Christ, which we have to announce. Whatever our age or abilities, if we are decided to follow the way of Christ, there is at least a thing we all can do : to pray and witness a little, whatever the manner, about the love we have received from God. We have to persevere and be able to say like Paul at the end of his life, « I have completed the course. »(9)
Precisions
- The crowds who rushed around Jesus seem to be attracted especially by physical healings they were looking for. The interest and the popularity the gypsies have manifested in large numbers for Jesus were also self-interested ?
- I do not think so. We have to realize that the primitive church based its faith on an acting Christ. The apostles themselves after the Pentecost – the gift of the Holy Spirit -, were laying their hands, and miracles happened in the name of Jesus. Think at the apostle Peter whose shade healed the sick.(10) The miracle was a part of the message delivered by the apostles and I think today we must continue to get inspiration from this Spirit who animated the church of the first centuries. The gypsy faith has been founded on the person of Jesus-Christ and on the power of God, not on the miracles themselves. It is in that meaning that we can say that their conversion was not self-interested. And if there are miracles Christ is the author of them. The gypsies did not consider the preachers as healers, but as people sent by God, it is different. They know that it is Christ who heals, we have always insisted on that : it is Christ who saves and He who heals. He is at the center of our message, our action and our heart. I will add that it is not sufficient to reason, or put into equations in order to denounce better, or even ridicule what we are called to believe. The gypsies have this merit not to have erected on a pedestal and censored an intellect which I certainly do not deny the usefulness and the necessity when it is used properly. Maybe, because of that, they have more easiness to open their hearts to Christ and the gospel, what our materialistic societies have difficulty to realize. The question stays whole and we are all concerned : are we really thirsty of God ?
Footnotes:
1 Mark 16 : 16
2 Tite 1 : 5
3 Acts 16 : 9
4 John 6 : 51
5 John 3 : 16
6 Colossians 2 : 10
7 Matthew 28 : 19-20
8 2 Timothy 2 : 2
9 2 Timothy 4 : 7
10 Acts 5 : 12-16, specially verse 15
2 Tite 1 : 5
3 Acts 16 : 9
4 John 6 : 51
5 John 3 : 16
6 Colossians 2 : 10
7 Matthew 28 : 19-20
8 2 Timothy 2 : 2
9 2 Timothy 4 : 7
10 Acts 5 : 12-16, specially verse 15
Thursday, March 12, 2015
STEPHEN HAWKING ADMITS INTELLIGENT DESIGN IS ‘HIGHLY PROBABLE’
http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/stephen-hawkins-admits-intelligent-design-is-highly-probable/
March 8th, 2015 | by Bob Flanagan
ASTROPHYSICS
FacebookTwitter3.8k
The English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, surprised the scientific community last week when he announced during a speech at the University of Cambridge that he believed that “some form of intelligence” was actually behind the creation of the Universe.
Presenting himself before students at the University of Cambridge, the world-famous scientist declared that his years of research on the creation of the cosmos have led him to isolate a strange scientific factor which he says is in many ways contrary to the universal laws of physics.
This strange phenomenon which he names the God factor, would be at the origin of the creation process and would have played a great role in determining the actual form of the Universe.
The world renown scientist admits the near death experience of his brother, who was clinically dead for 43 minutes after a heart attack last october, radically changed his view on the nature of human consciousness and the Universe as a whole
“My brother has always been a role model for me. His rational, cunning and no non-sense mind has shaped my personality into the person I am today and has led me into the study of the fascinating world of physics. But since his accident last October, he has come back a changed man” he recalled.
“He has told me of the existence of a sentient being, of another world we mortals are unaware of, he has told me of God” he told the crowd, visibly surprised at such affirmations.
“Modern science relies on the perception that consciousness lies within the human brain, but what my brother experienced during his clinical death, I cannot explain. Does consciousness lie outside of the human body? Is the human brain just a receptor, capable of receiving the “consciousness wave” as AM/FM radios receive radio waves? These are questions modern science has not yet answered and could redefine our view of the Universe and modern physics completely” he acknowledged.
“We were not expecting this” told the Head of the Department of Astrophysics, John Bairns. “I am simply baffled, I don’t know what to say” he told local reporters
“In my 40 years as a physicist, the thought of the Universe being “a living entity” never crossed my mind. I admit, Dr Hawking has given us much to ponder about” admitted Professor John Bairns, politely.
These declarations by the award-winning cosmologist have caused a great commotion in the scientific community, some even publicly admitting that “it was time for him to retire” and that “even great minds fall short in time”.
Stephen Hawking has since published a rebuttal to his critics, insisting that “Intelligent design” doesn’t in any way prove that God exists, but only that a “God-like force” played a role in the creation of our Universe, approximately 13.8 billion years ago.
March 8th, 2015 | by Bob Flanagan
ASTROPHYSICS
FacebookTwitter3.8k
The English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, surprised the scientific community last week when he announced during a speech at the University of Cambridge that he believed that “some form of intelligence” was actually behind the creation of the Universe.
Presenting himself before students at the University of Cambridge, the world-famous scientist declared that his years of research on the creation of the cosmos have led him to isolate a strange scientific factor which he says is in many ways contrary to the universal laws of physics.
This strange phenomenon which he names the God factor, would be at the origin of the creation process and would have played a great role in determining the actual form of the Universe.
The world renown scientist admits the near death experience of his brother, who was clinically dead for 43 minutes after a heart attack last october, radically changed his view on the nature of human consciousness and the Universe as a whole
“My brother has always been a role model for me. His rational, cunning and no non-sense mind has shaped my personality into the person I am today and has led me into the study of the fascinating world of physics. But since his accident last October, he has come back a changed man” he recalled.
“He has told me of the existence of a sentient being, of another world we mortals are unaware of, he has told me of God” he told the crowd, visibly surprised at such affirmations.
“Modern science relies on the perception that consciousness lies within the human brain, but what my brother experienced during his clinical death, I cannot explain. Does consciousness lie outside of the human body? Is the human brain just a receptor, capable of receiving the “consciousness wave” as AM/FM radios receive radio waves? These are questions modern science has not yet answered and could redefine our view of the Universe and modern physics completely” he acknowledged.
“We were not expecting this” told the Head of the Department of Astrophysics, John Bairns. “I am simply baffled, I don’t know what to say” he told local reporters
“In my 40 years as a physicist, the thought of the Universe being “a living entity” never crossed my mind. I admit, Dr Hawking has given us much to ponder about” admitted Professor John Bairns, politely.
These declarations by the award-winning cosmologist have caused a great commotion in the scientific community, some even publicly admitting that “it was time for him to retire” and that “even great minds fall short in time”.
Stephen Hawking has since published a rebuttal to his critics, insisting that “Intelligent design” doesn’t in any way prove that God exists, but only that a “God-like force” played a role in the creation of our Universe, approximately 13.8 billion years ago.
