"Tell Us Another Story"

By Keith Skillicorn

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     This was the message handed up to me on a cracked slate, written in barely legible Hindi. The writer was Hira, which literally means "Diamond," and this potentially precious gem of a lad is one of twelve who attend our thrice-weekly night school for literacy instruction. Although these classes bite heavily into a busy schedule comprising Bible School, General Medical and Leprosy programs, they nevertheless present a terrific challenge, for all twelve lads, whose ages range from twelve to twenty years, are from several non-Christian communities and, along with Ruth's equally promising sewing group, have given us yet another foothold for Christ in this extremely backward village of Nawadih. The spirit of enquiry could be the beginning of a new move forward and as such we need to be very cautious concerning our witness.

To Judge or Not to Judge
     Some of the church problems we face today can be traced back to the beginnings of our witness in this hitherto unevangelized Sarjuga District. In those days, the popular song among the Uraon enquirers was "Billi Mangar" (The light has dawned since Jesus has come). Many of these tribal folk, some of whom today seem quite deluded about spiritual matters, could honestly say at the time, "We have seen the Light." But it is not enough to "see the light"--at a distance. In dealing with potential converts, extreme patience must be exercised that the seeker may be able to approach close enough to the Light that in that Light he may be able to see his own inner darkness and desperate need of a Saviour.

     Baptism symbolizes the death and burial of the old man and the resurrection of the new (Romans 6:3-11). Only in His light do we come to recognize that without Him we are as dead men, fit for the grave, ready for baptism. Unfortunately, in its desire for "results", the church has often been guilty of terminating the seeker's progress towards that
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Light of the illuminating Christ. It has often failed to wait for his spontaneous confession of sin and has told him through hastily administered baptism that he is "dead" before he has realized the fact in experience. It is not for us to tell another that he is ready for the grave; we are not to judge (Matthew 7:1).

     The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts of sin and judgment (John 16:8) but He does it in a way that is all too often imperceptible for most of us. "The Father judges no one but has given all authority and judgment to the Son" (John 5:22) but Jesus emphatically refuses to judge in the manner generally conceived by our finite minds (John 12:47). John also attests this fact of our Lord's ministry in 3:17 where krine would better be translated "judge" than "condemn."

     How then does judgment operate in regard to the sins of our day? The secret is revealed in a phrase in John 5:27--"because he is the Son of man," not because "he is the Son of God," although He is. Judgment is inherent in His divine manhood. It is the Word that judges (John 12:48), not primarily the written or oral word, for these bear the true witness and are fully efficacious only as they are expressions of the Living Word, incarnate initially in Jesus Christ and secondarily in the sanctified Manhood and Womanhood of every age, the "Living Epistles" of 2 Corinthians 3:2-6.

     In this sense we also share in Christ's ministry of judgment (1 Corinthians 6:2). Contrary to many ideas of divine wrath and judgment, Jesus, like the Father, never "points the finger," but before His spotless manhood, we stand condemned until we surrender self. Such also must be the dynamic of our testimony.

Earn the Right to Be Frank
     In all our avenues of witness I have stressed this point to our teachers, preachers, and social workers, that while maintaining a fervent evangelistic zeal, we must never "force the issue"; we must never get in the Lord's way, for after all He is the Evangel, we are only His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). My beloved teacher, E. L. Williams emphasized this point time and again. "You must earn the right to be frank," he told us over-zealous student preachers and by that he meant that our verbal testimony must always be just one step behind the incarnate testimony, the spontaneous expression of the Life of Christ himself in sanctified Christian living.

     He who has the Son, in all His spiritual content, has the morally authoritative testimony within himself (1 John 5:10-12) and without us pushing religion, out of our hearts will flow--quite naturally--rivers of living Water (John 7:38). In our literacy classes and in all aspects of our ministry, I have determined this very thing, never to get in the Lord's way but rather to just occasionally make verbal mention of the things of the Spirit when opportunity avails. Evangelistically "forcing the issue" is, as it were, to cast pearls before swine. The Lord incarnated Himself only when the time was ripe (Galatians 4:4), only when there was at least a minimum measure of receptivity and this principle should also apply to our oral testimony.

     After all, if, through the grace of Christ, we are in a right relationship with God and our fellowmen, then, without any conscious effort on our part, there is a continuous outpouring of the Life of Christ Himself through our life to other lives; this is the very essence of communication, preaching--kerygma. And so it is that from time to time, along with in-
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struction in literacy, village sanitation, agriculture and general knowledge, I have endeavored to get across a little word of Jesus.

     What a thrill it gives to see Truth breaking through into minds that over the centuries have become insensitized by generations of poverty in body, mind and spirit, not to mention specifically the effects of habitual drinking of a variety of highly potent liquors. Not infrequently the eyes of the lads bulge like organ stops as, for the first time, they see the value of contour plowing, hear that the world is not really flat, and wonder of all wonders--space-craft on the moon!

     But this night was a thrilling night for it was not about such "trivial" things that the boys wanted to hear- -it was about Jesus. I had been telling them simple gospel stories from a series of tracts that come monthly. These had greatly attracted their interest. "Tell us another story" is an appeal that could lead to great things here in Nawadih. In a literary sense the boys are making much progress and all can now read and write in some measure. One lad is on the sixth book of the Laubach series and all this within a mere four months. The Lord is with us and we seek your prayers that the tender lives of these twelve village herdsboys may be gently brought into the Light of Christ and that in our leading, our voice may not be heard above that of the True Shepherd.

     Editor's Note: Keith Skillicorn was an electrician in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1944, when he heard the Good News at Bentleigh, Victoria, and accepted Jesus. In the following year he married Ruth Morrall, and began preparation to take the Glad Tidings to those who had never heard. The British Churches of Christ Mission in India learned of his desire and arranged for him, his wife and two young sons to go to Daltonganj, Bihar, India, in 1951. A third son was born in India. We acknowledge our debt to our brother for the spiritual insights and compassion revealed in his letters. His address is: Care of British Churches of Christ Mission, P. O. Nawa Bhandaria, Palamu District, Bihar, India.

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