Are We Following Christianity in True Spirit?|Merajao Inka

                    Image credit: Aaron Burden

Does our partial surrender suffice to answer our prayer?

I am exceedingly excited by the thought that I am so loved by God and that I am never left alone. He is always with me and takes care of me. I was thrilled to see my uncle, who was my spiritual mentor, and tell him what had happened to me. I was confident that he would be happy to hear that God takes so much care of me. When I reached home, my mother was happy to see me come home from my place of posting. She took my bag and told me to come inside. But I was too excited to meet my uncle. So, I told my mom that I was going to my uncle’s place and left in a hurry. After some courtesy conversation, I began telling the story of my encounter with God on the bus. 

“If I feel a little cold while on a journey, I used to have a strong urge to pass urine very frequently. If I drink even a little water to take medicine just before I set out on the journey, then the situation becomes worse. It was during the Kuki-Naga conflict; that I made a journey from Kohima to Imphal. Before reaching Kangpokpi, I had already passed urine three times by requesting the bus conductor and the driver to stop the bus for me. I was sitting with much relief and comfort when the conductor announced that we were reaching Kangpokpi and that we would not stop the bus until we crossed the Kuki inhabited area. As soon as I heard the announcement, I felt an apprehension that, if I wanted to pass urine again then what would I do? I checked myself to see if I had any feeling to pass urine, then immediately, to my utter surprise, I had and it was strong. I tried to ignore and forget the feeling. 

But the more I tried to ignore it, the stronger it became. I became very tense and restless and began to sweat profusely. WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW? The urge to pass urine became stronger and stronger with every passing second and it had gone beyond my control. However, I did not dare to ask the conductor to stop the bus as I had already made such a request three times. Had I asked, it would be too much of me and by doing so I might put the other passengers at risk and they would start shouting at me. 

So, ultimately, I prayed, without uttering a word, telling God to do something for me as I would be helpless and pass urine right there on the bus in front of everyone, putting myself in an embarrassing position. To my utter happiness, before I finished my prayer, an iron rod that was kept under a seat near the door of the bus fell off. Immediately, the conductor told the driver to stop the bus. The driver stopped the bus and the conductor got down and ran back to retrieve the iron rod. Meanwhile, I too hurriedly got down and relieved myself and I felt so light as if a heavy load had been lifted.

I was so happy and thankful to God for hearing my prayer, the prayer I made without uttering a word. My belief that I am never alone was confirmed. God is indeed omnipresent. He is always with me. I cannot find a place to hide, where His presence is not there.”

When I completed my narration I expected my uncle to give a positive response by praising God and encouraging me to be more prayerful and earnest in worshiping God. But on the contrary, he felt bad for me for what I did on the bus. He said that I should not disturb God for such petty matters. I should seek the intervention of God only when the situation becomes beyond my capability. I doubted his honesty in saying that. His advice was totally in contradiction with my belief and understanding that we should worship God with total submission. If I don’t bring him all my problems, big or small, happy or sad, but approach Him only when I need his help then it is not a total but a partial surrender. For me what I believe is that our prayer will not be answered if we do not surrender to him with total submission.

On another occasion, which happened about 15 years ago, a person who claimed himself to have received spiritual gifts from God told me, while we were having a special worship service at my house, that my life would be taken by God very soon. He felt pity for me because I would die shortly. He prophesied the words with an alarming emotion. 

But the prophecy did not frighten me. It is not that I don’t believe in the prophecy but I believe in God. If I had to die, it would be according to God’s plan. I am His adopted son and He is my Father. He is always watching over me with love and care. Nothing, good or bad, can happen to me without His consent.

I prayed within myself to God, “Lord You know everything. You love me more than I love myself. You have a plan for me and my family. I believe that you always think and act for my betterment. If I have to die at this age it must be according to your plan. I have already surrendered to you with total submission. My life is yours and let your will be done to me. So Lord, grant me the required strength and faith so that I may be able to comply with your plan.”

I did not even ask the prophet to pray for me in that regard. Some of our church elders have suggested I have a special fasting prayer program to ask God to take away the impending danger from me. But I politely turned down their suggestion saying that God knows everything. He is doing the best for me. I have already said to Him in prayer to let His will be done to me. Now if I say to God that His will cannot be done to me instead it must be according to my desire then, I no longer surrender to Him. Rather, I am teaching Him what He should do as if He does not know what He should or should not do.

Most of our Inpui-Christian people do not surrender to God. I believe that the prayer of a Christian who does not surrender to God will not be answered. If we say that our prayers are answered then why are we living in this miserable condition?

Is witchcraft mightier than God?

We say that God is omnipotent and omnipresent. His glory is higher than heaven. Heaven is His throne, and the earth is His footstool. There is nothing impossible with Him. The Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. 

Do we believe in the truthfulness of the above Bible verses? Can we rely on the Bible verse that says God can do anything and there is nothing impossible with him? If we say, "Yes, we believe," then we are lying. If we say God is all-powerful, then why do we Inpui Christians fear doi (witchcraft)? Why do we say that our Christian prayer cannot cure the ailment caused by doi. Why do we go to kathem who performs pujas (rituals) to other gods and spirits to get doi treatment? 

In reality, we do not know who Jesus is. We do not know how powerful our God is. We are hypocrites and unfaithful. We, who preach the gospel to others, do not believe in the authenticity of the gospel. 

Recently I met a kathem from one of our Inpui villages located at Imphal Valley. He said that many Inpui Christians come to him to get treatment. Most of them suffer from doi. He cured them of the ailment by performing a ritual deed called yeigya. What a shameful irony that is! Those Christians, who are so happy with the idea that they have received salvation, are cheating on their God by stealthily worshiping other gods. 

For me, I believe that the almighty God is my father and I am His child. He is always taking care of me with fatherly love. When I know for sure that my all-powerful father is watching over me why should I be afraid of doi. Moreover, I do not believe in the effectiveness of the so-called powerful doi.

Is Jesus alone enough to save us?

It was just after my father’s death, that one of my close relatives, who loves me and my family very much, said to me that a vision was revealed to a self-proclaimed prophet, in which it was shown that the door of death was open for my family. Therefore, death occurs very frequently in my family: my beloved mother, sister, brother, and then my father died in a short span of period. The door is required to be shut, otherwise, such unfortunate incidents may reoccur. To shut the door of death, a ritual deed, namely inkrao-thou (worship of the spirits of dead ancestors) is to be performed. So, he advised me to perform the rituals.

However, I could not agree to his proposal so I politely turned down his advice saying that Jesus is enough for me; I love my Jesus. I need not worship any other god. I do not want to offend my master by worshiping other spirits or gods. A relative of mine (cousin brother) who genuinely love me and my family was very worried concerning the unsafe condition of my family. With much love and concern, he persistently insisted on performing the rituals. Even some of my family members and other relatives of mine also started to pressure me to perform the inkrao-thou. 

But I could not find a good reason to follow their advice. I am a Christian now; I have accepted Jesus as my master and my God, and I know that He is my redeemer, my Savior, my salvation, my breath, my very survival, and above all, he is my best friend. I know he is always with me and I feel his very presence around me. Sometimes, He talks to me without words. Sometimes, I sit by His side leaning my head on His knees. Now, after having such a precious relationship with Him, how can I go and worship other gods? 

I also wonder what kind of prophet he is. In the bible, it is strictly written that we cannot worship other gods. Then, how could he, being a Christian prophet, advise me to worship the spirits of my dead ancestors? From whom did he get that revelation? Does he worship God or someone else? 

Ultimately, I said to them “I don’t care whether the door of death opens or shut for my family. I will never worship anyone else except God. For this, if all the members of my family have to die, even then, I will gladly accept it. It is much better for me to live one day by sitting at the feet of my Master than to live a thousand years by worshiping other gods or spirits.”

Later, I came to know that many of our Christian families performed inkrao-thou through our so-called leithwan phangnu mi. Then I realized why our people’s prayers are not answered.

Do the prophecies spoken by Leithwan Phangnu mi conform with the teachings of the gospel?

1 Corinthians 14:3 says “But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging, and comfort.” But I find that many of the prophecies spoken by leithwan phangnu rwan are in contradiction to the teachings of the above bible verse. Instead of strengthening, they weaken the spirit of the believers. They discourage the believers from becoming more earnest in worshiping God. Instead of making the believers know that our Lord is compassionate, merciful, and all-loving, they try to show that God is revengeful, always ready to punish, and always fearful in anger. 

Therefore, instead of loving God, the believers fear Him. They cannot be intimately close to Him; as such, they do not know who He is. They cannot understand how much He loves them. Therefore, they also do not love Him. They ask Him to give them good health, worldly wealth, fame, success, and protection but they never ask Him to come and dwell in their hearts. They never think that if we receive God we have received everything. He is the treasure, the good health, the wisdom, the strength, and everything. He is all-in-all to us. We say “I don’t require you to reside in my heart. You give me only the worldly things and that is enough. If you reside in me, it would be difficult for me to speak ill of others, to hate others, to eat and drink the forbidden things, to commit adultery, and to steal.

Once when I was unwell our church elders brought a leithwan phangnu mi to pray for me. During the prayer, he saw, in his vision, one lady standing near me. He tried to cast the lady away from me but he could not succeed. The lady persistently remained near me. Then he said that I have an extramarital affair with a lady. Luckily, my wife had a good understanding of me, otherwise, my family might have broken up that day. Then I said before everyone present there, “It is true that he saw a vision, but he cannot understand the meaning of the vision. In fact, the lady that he claimed to have seen is no other than the health problem I have now. 

I am having a breathing problem. This vision indicates that this health problem will not go soon from me. I will continue suffering from this problem for some more days.” They could not believe what I said. They might be thinking that I was trying to save my face from my immoral conduct. But as I had said, I recovered from the health problem after about ten days. 

On another occasion, my sister-in-law who was having ill health was always told by a lady leithwan phangnu mi that she was called by God to witness His testimony. She said that God wants her to go out and tell people that God has given her good health, lest she fall ill. My sister-in-law was compelled to go out to people from door to door and give her testimony that God had given her good health. But she could only go to a few selected houses. 

Every time, the lady came to pray for her, it was sure to spell the same doi-mantra- “You should go out and give the testimony to avoid God’s wrath." How many times could she repeatedly go to a house? Later she found no place to go and she got a great apprehension that God would punish her now for disobeying His command. As she had feared, it came true, and she fell seriously ill. Then she was taken to Guwahati for treatment, and there her ailment was diagnosed and she was healed. 

It was a kind of torture, and harassment that the leithwan phangnu mi was doing to my sister-in-law. The prophecies which she spoke were something like spelling witchcraft mantras.

Very recently I was told that an innocent girl was accused by a leithwan phangnu mi that she performs doi to harm people. The young girl, after having heard of this, could not go out of her house. She felt disgraced and ashamed of herself; she was reluctant to meet people, which led to depression.

However, on the contrary, leithwan phangnu mi is becoming very popular now. It is very disheartening and sickening, to say the least. What kind of Christianity are we following? Are we worshiping God or Satan?

Merajao Inka is the President of the Inpui Naga Union (INU).

Source: Sachoiba Inkha (ed.). An Introduction to All Inpui Students' Union, Published by Souvenir Committee, AISU Golden Jubilee, 2022. pp.100-104