Dilli Ram Paudel was a Hindu priest when he was younger
Posted on 01/15/2023 3:33:56 AM PST by Cronos
Converting people to another religion is illegal in Nepal, but missionaries are willing to risk prosecution to spread the Christian faith.
"Victory to Jesus," Korean pastor Pang Chang-in cries as he blesses a new church in the village of Jharlang, in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The congregation of the newly converted raise their hands in prayer. Most are from the indigenous Tamang community, who used to follow the Lama faith, an ancient spiritual practice.
In Pang's eyes the Tamang people are "poor financially and spiritually".
"So, a miracle takes place and the whole village converts," he says.
Missionaries, many of them South Korean like Pang, have helped build one of the world's fastest-growing Christian communities in Nepal, a former Hindu kingdom and the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
Most of the surge in Christian numbers in Nepal is from among members of the community who call themselves Dalits - traditionally at the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy - or from indigenous people.
They may believe in miracles as Pang suggests, but for them conversion also offers a chance to escape entrenched poverty and discrimination.
The latest data from the national Christian community survey says there are now 7,758 churches in the still overwhelmingly Hindu country.
And South Korea is behind much of this transformation. It has become one of the world's biggest missionary-sending nations - only a couple of decades after it started deploying them - with more than 22,000 abroad, according to the Korean World Mission Association.
Driven by the zeal of the born-again, Korean missionaries have become known for aggressively going to, and sometimes being expelled from, the hardest-to-evangelise corners of the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
In 1951 there were no Christians in Nepal and just 458 in 1961. But by 2011, there were nearly 376,000 and the latest census estimates the community is now around 545,000.
Dilli Ram Paudel was a Hindu priest when he was younger
The fact that the Buddha was born in Nepal has nothing to do with the body of the article. Buddhism might have been an important religion in the region but now there are just some monks and temples.
As what happened when Muslims conquered the India subcontinent where lower or no caste Hindus converted to Islam, Christians are finding convers from those same communities. It is interesting in the West, the treatment of lower or no caste Hindus gets a pass.
Thank you for your partnership through prayer and financial giving. It is your prayers which God is using to win the battle. Missionaries cannot do the work without your support and so it is truly a partnership with individuals and churches. Missionaries are there because of your sacrificial giving.
They may believe in miracles as Pang suggests, but for them conversion also offers a chance to escape entrenched poverty and discrimination.
They’re not separate things, as was the case in the spread of Christianity in , say, Europe . Money the church collected went among other things to buying land which was worked by peasants to the benefit of themselves and the church.
Why do missionaries go to places with poor, ignorant people instead of to Washington and New York where the sinners are?
It wasn’t always that way. Christianity made a great leap forward with the conversion of the Emperor Constantine. Norway was converted by the conversion of King Olaf.
"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
BTW, there are ministries in DC, bible studies, organizations, etc.
Missionaries in the US are sometimes called “Home Missions”, “Church Planters”, even missions to specific groups such as military personnel.
The weakness of Buddhism in the traditional Buddhist places of India is poverty. People are starving in Bodhgaya surrounded by grifters who raise money to feed children but pocket the money.This weakness is exploited by Christian conversionists who bait the converted with food.Its a very sad situation.
Buddhism is flourishing in America, where people still at this point have enough health, wealth and leisure to actually practice meditation on a regular basis.
“Shambhala Buddhism is a modern form of Buddhism that combines the teachings of the Tibetan Buddhist lineage with the spiritual practices of the ancient kingdom of Shambhala. It is based on the belief that there is a natural source of basic goodness, wisdom, and courage that lies within each of us. This source is said to be connected to the enlightened kingdom of Shambhala, and when we tap into this source, we are able to bring more love, peace, and joy into the world.
Shambhala Buddhism combines Buddhist teachings with the traditional Shambhala teachings of warriorship. The warriorship teachings focus on developing four core qualities: wakefulness, fearlessness, gentleness, and genuine confidence. These qualities are said to be essential for living a life of courage, compassion, and wisdom.
Shambhala Buddhism emphasizes meditation as a way of developing these core qualities and connecting to the source of basic goodness within. It also focuses on cultivating a sense of ethical responsibility and cultivating an appreciation for the beauty and joy of everyday life.
In addition to meditation, Shambhala Buddhism also includes practices such as chanting, visualizations, martial arts, and the study of Buddhist philosophy. These practices are intended to help us develop our inner wisdom and courage and to develop a deeper understanding of the principles of Shambhala.
Shambhala Buddhism is a modern practice that is designed to help us connect with our inner source of basic goodness and to live more meaningful, purposeful, and inspired lives. It is a practice that encourages us to be mindful and compassionate, to live with courage and integrity, and to connect with the preciousness of life.”
I believe you are wrong as there are many documented cases of miracles large and small from over the last 2000 years. Many missionaries have seen healings and raisings of the dead but these seem to be in conjunction with their work to bring peoples to Christ out on the cutting edge. Yes its true it’s not an everyday occurence that people walk around in the spirit and say “be healed”. Then again not everyone was healed when Christ walked around. Consult your church libraries and bookstores; the testimonies are extant and continue.
Jeremiah 31:34”…33“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. 34No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.” 35Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name:…”
That is what I believe Paul is referring to when he said “that which is perfect shall come”. He repeats Jeremiah 31 in Hebrews 8:11 for example.
People have used the notion of “a consensus driven decided upon collection of Inspired books called the Bible” as being the thing that Paul referring to as that thing “that was perfect that should come” to explain why miracles and prophecies and healings have ceased. I think that is white space gospel that is to say people filling in the spaces and concocting speculative doctrines that the black and red lettering of scripture doesn’t explain.
I don’t think miracles have ceased at all, especially reading over reports from missionaries over the years but they also occur thru groups of people fasting and praying thru their local groujps and churches. Nothing splashy just everyday practical things God does thru his people to keep his work moving. Toungues can always be verified if translated per Paul’s explanation as to how tongues were to be treated in the churches, and found to be supported in scripture especially if such events point to Jesus as son of God and God come in flesh as per 1 John 4.
Finally Paul said that the greatest gift of love was love/charity. If your contention is that all the splashy gifts of miracles, tongues, and prophecy were to be phased out when the Bible was finally put together, then charity/love should have also been phased out since that was also a gift of the spirit.So is Christ’s love that is spirit born also to be looked upon as suspect since it was poured out in great abundance at the same time as all the other gifts were poured out, now that we have the Bible? Is the sign of Jonah, which was given as a sign to the sinners of the world what we Christians are also left with? Or was it that the world was supposed to know that we were Christians by our love for one another?(a love born from the Spirit of Grace).
I believe “the thing which is Perfect” that is to come is the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord that shall cover the Earth as waters cover the sea. Jeremiah 31 points to it. Then people won’t have to remind each other to know God; as all will know it. Christ will reign here on Earth for a thousand years.
Yet in the day of the resurrection of the saints when we are taken up to be with Christ, we will have no need of miracles and tongues as such; we will have been made incorruptible , not being subject to sin or its temptations. We will all be miracles in Christ Jesus, corporately as his Bride acceptable to the father.
Until then we of the world wide church shall have refreshings , and supports, admonishments, and equippings as the Spirit shall provide to us.
“The weakness of Buddhism in the traditional Buddhist places of India is poverty.”
Too bad the richer Buddhists don’t help the poorer hungry folks, often lower class who will flock to these so called evil/sarc Christian “conversionists”(who were commanded of their Lord to feed the hungry) as you call them; as these other shambolic Buddhists/and higher caste Hindus(cousins in crime) seem so tapped into their “inner” goodness that they are in fact no earthly good to those less fortunate than themselves.
You talk of “inner good” yet you also speak of needing to reach out of the self into a “shambolic kingdom” to activate one’s own inner goodness. There is no one “good” save the Father in Heaven who says we must be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and then to be filled with the Spirit in order to have any good at all come out of us. We have nothing good in any of us, at least of our own initiative.
Not buying the Jive!
Probably easier to convert a Nepalese Buddhist than a NYC democrat.
Everyone is a sinner and fall short of the glory of God. This includes poor people as well as the rich and powerful. Actually, though, there ARE missionaries in Washington, the state and DC, and there ARE missionaries in New York.
Good thing we have freedom of religion. You have no need to feel threatened.
And both are much easier to convert than a comfortable church member who is a "Christian" by heritage rather than conversion.
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