Dr.Stanley Jones and Richard Wurmbrand

Dr. E. Stanley Jones, an apostle extraordinary to the 20th century/Richard Wurmbrand, an apostle to the Communist World

Sadhu Kochu Kunju, an apostle of South India

Job Anbalagan

Sadhu Kochu Kunju Upadesi, an apostle of Christ from the South India, was born in a village, called, Edayaranmula, on the river of Pampa in the state of Kerala during 1883. He dedicated his life to the Lord Jesus, when he was 11 years old. Since the child marriage was the order of the day, Sadhu Kochu Kunju was married when he was 12 years old. A year after his marriage, he lost his mother. His father was a poor agriculturist. He also expired later when Sadhu Kochu Kunju was twenty years old.

In stature Sadhu Kochu Kunju was unimposing. He was more than 5 feet tall, with a lean body. His forehead bore wrinkles. His eyes alone showed hints of some exploding thoughts. His attire was so simple that it deceived strangers into thinking that "here was a man of no consequence". Dhoti (a typical dress of a Keralite or a Tamilian in the South India in place of a pant), shirt and a shawl - all in white - constituted his dress. One hand carried an umbrella while the other kept the Bible close his bosom. This was the live figure of Sadhu Kochu Kunju, the man with the aura of a saint.

Kochu Kunju was a very distinctive person in appearance. He always wore a white shirt and a white dothi. He was 5 feet 9 inches tall and had a very thin and frail body. His eyes appeared to be meditative and his forehead was frowned as though in deep eternal thought. He always carried an umbrella and his favourite Bible where ever he went. His saintly life, self control, self denial, and commitment for social service made him a unique person.

A life of great struggle and of loneliness

Sadhu Kochu Kunju did not want to spend his life on agriculture or business. He had to make a bitter struggle for existence. Poverty was rampant in his family. He was a man of prayers. He took a decision only after his prayers.

Child marriage was common during those days. At the age of twelve while he was still a student Kochu Kunchu married Aleyamma of Vattapara house, Kuriannoor. After his marriage he studied two more years in the Poovathoor English School. At the age of fourteen onwards he started helping his father in agriculture. But the thirst for reading was always within him. He used to carry Bible portions with him where ever he traveled. At the age of eleven he accepted Jesus as his personal Saviour during a meeting held in his home parish. While he was 15, his mother died and the burden of looking after his sick father fell on him. Income from the agriculture was not at all sufficient for their living. So he had a hard life and was forced to do many small jobs to make both ends meet. He did textile business, and for some time he taught in a school. His wife’s parents were very helpful.

He was in the isle of loneliness due to severe ordeals in his life. Physical strain, mental torture and financial crisis converged on him to intensify his misery. He fell a prey to various ailments. All his contacts with the outside world were severed. He confined himself to a dim dungeon. His wife had gone home, taking the children with her. There was no one to help him. Those who were dear and near avoided him. Relatives and villagers alike sneered at him. But there were a few to lend him a helping hand. To him, they too were a thorn in the flesh. Acute pain and constant grief and dejection kept him company. Bible reading, meditation and prayer sustained him. He liked to spend time alone in meditation. Much of his time he spent in reading the Holy Scriptures and devotional books. After many days of solitary confinement, meditation and prayer in his house, he committed his life, his wife, children, all his property, possessions, responsibilities, time, future and all his desires to God. He decided to serve the Lord as a full time evangelist on behalf of his home parish, Lakha St. Thomas Mar Thoma Parish, Edayaranmula. His commitment to the Gospel restrained him from all worldly pleasures.

He was a Sunday school teacher for many years. At the age of 17, Kochu Kunju started his gospel work, which was mainly centered in and around his home parish as he had to look after his sick father. After a day’s hard work in the agricultural fields, he used to visit houses in the evenings with a lantern lamp and a Bible in his hand. He arranged area prayer meetings and children’s meetings. His parish priest Rev A. G. Thomas and his classmate Mr. K. V. Simon were his strong supporters. Kochu Kunju was the secretary of an association called Edayaranmula Christian fellowship. Bible study classes and open air meetings were held under the auspicious of this association in the neighboring villages and parishes. While he was 20 he lost his father.

The rudest shock of his life came with the demise of his second son Samuel Kutty. He had fervently prayed for his son's life. But God had willed it otherwise. He was convinced that God was offering him the goblet of grief. He knew that he was bound to accept the goblet willingly.

Barred from all worldly contacts, Kochu Kunju was doing penance in the dungeon of his house. When he came out, he had acquired the insight of an ascetic. He had gained confidence and fortitude from his stay with "Him whom my soul loveth". He had meditated on the Songs of Solomon and viewed the Songs as heavenly music revealed to his soul for its delight by his beloved Rabbi at a time when divine grace had led him away from all worldly pleasures. The gloomy dungeon became the cradle of divine revelations.

Kochu Kunu observed: "A Christian can attain perfection in Christian life only after stepping out of the world. In a wide open place, mind tends to be open with no hindrances. In the same way, a Christian who sees not or looks not at anything of the world, steps out of the world to wear the cosmopolitanism of eternity".

A man of a very simple life with simple food habits

The aversion Kochu Kunju had for worldly pleasures had sprung from his passion for a life of devotion. He extricated himself from sensuous enjoyments. Even in the prime of youth, he had departed from sensual pleasures.

He had also exercised great caution in the choice of food. If he had felt a liking for any particular food, he had eluded it. Day time was spent in fasting, eating nothing and drinking only water. At a time he ate only three items. He restricted the number of meals to nineteen times a month. Each time he had only a handful of rice usually taken after ten at night. After having meals for nine consecutive nights, he would forego food on the tenth day and dink only water. This was his mode of offering the tithe of food to God. In those days he would give a minimum of twenty sermons. He never touched fish or meat. These were the rigorous practices he had followed before he was thirty years and he continued them unfalteringly for more than thirty years.

Ministry of gospel and of social work

Throughout the length and breadth of Kerala and in many parts of South India, the voice of Kochu Kunju was heard pronouncing the message of the gospel. For 30 years he traveled ceaselessly to preach the gospel. His work was not confined to the preaching of the gospel alone. He also blew the trumpet of social reformation. He spearheaded a movement against dowry, a social evil. As a prophet, he raised his voice against the social evil of dowry, a long standing practice amongst the Christians of Kerala to give dowry for the marriage of their daughters.

He did not spare the selfish traders of his time. He formulated guidelines for business ethics. He urged businessmen to be thoroughly honest, gentle, kind-hearted, and to be evangelists. He took the lead in establishing shelters for the old people. He always cared for the poor and the destitute. He encouraged the establishment of orphanages.

His heart was full of compassion for the poor. He was particular that none in his village should go to bed without supper. He supplied the poor, who could not afford supper, with rice and other things. He also provided for the supply of these things to them from one shop or other. The shop keeper was asked to give the poor what they needed and to debit it to his account. He helped the poor in building their dwelling places. He gave monetary assistance to poor parents who gave away their daughters in marriage.

Sadhu ministered to the poor saints. During a convention, he collected contributions for helping one Eapen.

One night, it was raining heavily. The wind was like a tempest. A young boy was out drenched in rain water. He knocked at many doors for shelter. No one admitted him in. Sadhu took the boy home. The boy was bathed and was given dry clothes and food. He was also a given a cot to sleep. Sadhu sat by his side, patted him gently and embraced him.

Cholera ravaged Southern Travancore. Every house was deprived of three or four members. People fled their villages in panic. They did not remain there even to bury the dead. Dead bodies lay unburied and babies lay sucking the breasts of dead mothers. Rescue operation of the Government was not forthcoming. Sadhu and his team boldly set out on relief operations. Ignoring the danger to their own lives, Sadhu and his team visited the afflicted people in their houses and nursed them. They buried the dead and looked after the orphans. In Marthandam, Tamil Nadu, he started an orphanage to take care of the destitutes.

As a result of his meetings, habitual drunkards, men of abominable iniquity, rioting or witchcraft, and ex-convicts were awakened into a sense of deep guilt. With tears and wailings, they proclaimed their repentance and openly accepted Christ Jesus. The songs composed by him in Malayalam were equally effective in bringing about spiritual awakening amongst the people.

He was one of the few evangelists who fully depended on God for all his needs. Once while conducting a gospel meeting, the parish members presented to him a gold ring. He returned the gold ring saying that he was serving the Lord for things much more precious than gold. His home parish people were willing to pay him a monthly salary but he refused that too. He could not think of such a thing. He considered Gospel work as his duty and for which he was not willing to take any remuneration or salary. In 1915 the Mar Thoma Metropolitan gave him the authorization to preach and to do gospel work in all the Parishes of the Church.

In the beginning, his meetings were not well attended. Once while conducting a ladies meeting in his home parish there was only one old lady to hear his sermon. But God used this same man to preach to the millions all over South India and Sri Lanka for almost thirty years.

Upadesi always wore simple white clothes as a symbol of his holiness. He always used to carry his Bible holding it close to his chest. He was particular that Christians, especially Christian women should be modestly dressed and should not follow the worldly examples.

He became a popular evangelist very soon. His meetings were held in many places in Kerala. He even went to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Sri Lanka. Irrespective of creed and caste, people used to attend his meeting. During the Cholera epidemic of 1928 which killed thousands in South Travancore (South Kerala) he worked as a volunteer. Mr. C. M. John who later became the Metropolitan of the Church (Yohanan Mar Thoma) was another volunteer who worked with him. He used to conduct parish conventions from Thursday to Sunday and for almost thirty years he followed this form of preaching.

He always considered himself as a foreigner and sojourner on earth. He was a pilgrim. He had a special relationship with God and God was his one and only refuge and trust. His relation with God was so intimate that he used to call God, Appachen (which means Daddy). His messages were very simple and easy to understand. He showed the common man the greatness of the Cross in the Calvary. He was a sharp and powerful instrument in God’s hands. His life itself was his sermon. He could spread the love of God to all who heard him. His life was an open book. He used to speak 2-3 hours at a time. He used to quote parables and examples from every day life in his sermons. He was humorous too. His deep knowledge in the Scriptures made his words more powerful than a strong hammer. He taught new Hymns during his sermons. Millions were saved from their evil ways through his messages. His presence itself was a blessing to many of them. He had a large group of disciples. With the courage of a prophet, he fought against the social evils of his time. He had a deep concern for the unsaved.

Even though Sadhu had little education, he wrote 11 books in prose and poetry and published three weeklies. His books were appreciated by all contemporary writers and critics. Through his books he attacked the social evils of the day. He wrote against the dowry system which made life of many Christian families miserable. In another book he wrote in detail how a Christian should do business. He was always faithful to his Church and his writings never went outside the parameters of the mother Church. Sadhu Kochoonju Upadesi is always remembered through his Hymns. He wrote a book named “Aaswaasa Geethangal” (Songs of Consolation) in which 210 of his hymns are included. As the name indicates, his Hymns still give comfort to thousands who are broken hearted and in grief. Within 25 years of its publication, more than 50,000 copies were sold. Almost all the Christians irrespective of their differences in faith and creed use the Hymns of Kochu Kunchu Upadesi in their prayer and worship books. His hymns have a divine power and are still sung all over the world in Malayalam worship services and family prayers. His hymns have the power to give hope for the dejected, cure and comfort to the broken hearts, assurance to the faithful worshippers and salvation to the sinners. Most of the hymns are the outward manifestation of his deep spiritual life and experiences.

Kochu Kunchu Upadesi was the General Secretary of the Mar Thoma Voluntary Evangelists’ Association from 1924 to 1945. He was also the Manager of the Edayaranmula English Middle school for some time.

People of all religions loved and respected him. He practiced what he preached. He had absolute faith in God. He never earned any worldly riches for his children. The glowing Grace in his face was sufficient for his audience.

Sadhu kochu Kunju was a contemporary of Rev.T.Walker, the English man, who was the chief evangelist of the period of spiritual awakening and who resided in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Dr.Stanley Jones of USA and Tamil David were his other contemporaries.

His continuous travels and restless gospel work made him sick many times. But in 1945 November he became very sick. He was aware of his home call. He was sure that he was going to his ‘Daddy’s home. He requested his relatives not to cry when he was called home. He was never afraid of death. As he wrote in his Hymn:

(Soon I am going to be with the saints to rejoice with them. I don’t want the world or anything in it. I want to be in the presence of my Lord)

He was called home at 8.45 am on Friday 30, November 1945. He was buried in the Lakha St. Thomas Church Cemetery on Saturday afternoon 1 December, 1945. The funeral service itself was a great honour for him. Two Bishops, more than 100 priests and more than 40,000 people participated in the funeral service.

If you happen to pass by the house in which Sadhu lived i.e. the Moothambackal House, you will notice a chapel in his memory and a rocky pillar with the following inscriptions engraved on it:

"For the honor of the name of Jesus

Travelers who are in difficulty can spend the night here.
(ISAIAH 58:7, MATHHEW 5:13-16)
Observe the Sabbath"

I pray that the Lord may raise up many apostles like Sadhu Kochu Kunju in these last days. Are you one of them?

RICHARD WURMBRAND, the apostle to the communist world

Dr.P.P.Job

An apostle extraordinary to the 20th century & a friend of Indian evangelical missions!

For more than half a century, Dr. E. Stanley Jones proclaimed the Gospel of Christ and applied it to men's personal, social, national, and international problems as they arose on every continent and among all cultures. He was probably the world's best-known and longest-tested Christian missionary and evangelist. He moved among statesmen and among leaders without portfolios as counselor, friend and worker for peace and goodwill. He helped hundreds of thousands, from village outcasts in India to molders of public opinion in America, Japan, Europe and India.

In addition, he initiated and helped support institutions and movements on five continents-- institutions and movements that have aided many thousands to achieve better lives religiously, socially and medically. The proceeds from his Spiritual Life Missions and speaking engagements in America, as well as the royalties of his twenty eight books—most of them best sellers—were devoted wholly to these causes.

Stanley Jones was born in Baltimore, Maryland, January 3, 1884. He was educated in Baltimore schools and studied law at City College before being graduated from Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky in 1906. He was on the faculty of Asbury College when he was called to missionary service in India in 1907 under the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

He began his work among the members of the very low castes and the outcastes. He did not attack Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, or any Indian religion. He presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ, disentangled from western systems and cultures, and their sometimes non-Christian expressions. "The way of Jesus should be—but often isn't—the way of Christianity," he said. "Western civilization is only partly Christianized."

Brother Stanley, as he was familiarly called by thousands of people, attracted wide attention among the high castes, the students and the intelligentsia. He was invited to speak at ancient universities and before learned societies. Soon he was set aside by his church to interpret the Christian Gospel especially to educated men and women. In 1919, with foresight and great-heartedness, the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church offered him the wide-ranging role of "Evangelist-at-large" to India and to wherever else he might feel led, which subsequently proved to be to the far corners of the earth.

Dr. Jones conducted great mass meetings in leading Indian cities. At one such meeting, their leader said, "We may not agree with what Dr. Jones is saying, but we can certainly all try to be like Jesus Christ." He inaugurated "round table conferences" at which Christian and non-Christian sat down as equals to share their testimonies as to how their religious experiences enabled them to live better. Thirty years before the United Nations came into being he proposed a Round Table of Nations.

In 1925, while home on furlough, he wrote a report of his years of service—what he had taught and what he had learned in India. It was published in a book titled "The Christ of the Indian Road and became a best seller. It sold over a million copies and has influenced the course of missionary thinking. Other books followed and certain books or single chapters became required reading in various theological seminaries or in degree courses at government colleges in parts of the world. They have been read around jungle fires, studied by armies and governments, quoted in parliaments, and banned and burned by Communists.

His work became interdenominational and world-wide. He held before men the example of God's reconciliation to mankind through Jesus on the cross. He made Him visible as the Universal Son of Man who had come for all people. This opening up of nations to receiving Christ within their own framework marked a new approach in missions. It came to be known as "indigenization". He helped to re-establish the Indian "Ashram" (or forest retreat) as a means of drawing men and women together for days at a time to study in depth their own spiritual natures and quest, and what the different faiths offered individuals. Many came to refute the Christian Gospel or to extol their own, but many came to accept Christ's way of life. These confrontations of man with man and religion with religion greatly influenced the thought life of India's leaders and the views and activities of its ancient faiths.

Then in 1930, along with a British missionary and Indian pastor and using the sound Christian missionary principle of indigenization, Dr. Jones reconstituted the "Ashram" with Christian disciplines. This institution became known as the "Christian Ashram. "Stranded in the United States during World War II with his family in India because the only overseas travel allowed was for the military), he transplanted the Christian Ashram in the United States and Canada, where it has become a strong spiritual growth ministry. For many years Stanley Jones spent six months in North America, conducting city-wide evangelistic missions, Christian Ashrams, and other spiritual life missions and the other six months overseas. He preached and held Christian Ashrams in almost every country of the world.

Stanley Jones went to earth's trouble spots helping to promote international understanding ."Peace," he said, "is a by-product of conditions out of which peace naturally comes. If reconciliation is God's chief business, it is ours—between man and God, between man and himself, and between man and man. "InAfrica, he was called the "Reconciler." His efforts in Burma, Korea, and the Belgian Congo, between China and Japan, and between Japan and the United States, to mention only a few, received wide attention. In the months prior to December 7, 1941, he was a constant confident of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Japanese leaders trying to avertwar. On his first visit after World War II, Japan hailed him with banners saying "Welcome to the Apostle of Peace." He also won the esteem of all India .Men in the old British colony and in the new Indian nation, which came into existence after World War II, counseled with him. His influence had no small share in establishing religious freedom in the new constitution of India.

Dr. Jones became a friend of Mahatma Gandhi and wrote an appreciative biography of Gandhi. Martin Luther King told the daughter of Stanley Jones, Eunice Jones Mathews, that it was reading her father's biography of Gandhi that convinced him to adopt the strict non-violent method in the civil rights struggle. The sons and grandsons of Gandhi remain close friends of Bishop and Mrs. Mathews.

In India he supported students of the Mar Thoma Church preparing for the ministry, students at Leonard Theological Seminary, Indian students studying in America, and itinerating evangelists and Christian workers in rural are as. He subsidized schools for lay leaders and provided "Church extension gifts" to build churches and schools in Indian villages and cities. He had a strong influence in preventing the spread of Communism in India. One of his books is titled Christ's Alternative To Communism. He founded, developed and supported the Christian Ashram at Sat Tal, India—a year-round, world-wide center for spiritual development based on the Christian Ashram disciplines.

In 1947 in the United States, he launched the Crusade for a Federal Union of Churches. He conducted mass meetings from coast to coast and spoke in almost five hundred cities, towns and churches. He advocated a system through which denominations could unite as they were, each preserving its own distinctive emphasis and heritage, but accepting one another and working together in a kind of federal union patterned after the United State's system of federal union.

In 1950 Dr. Jones provided funds for India's first Christian psychiatric center and clinic, the now noted Nur Manzil Psychiatric Center and Medical Unit at Lucknow. The staff includes specialists from India, Asia, Africa, Europe, and America who have given up lucrative practices to serve in this Christian institution which serves thousands of patients.

In 1959 Stanley Jones was named "Missionary Extraordinary" by the Methodist missionary publication World Outlook. A well-known Bishop described him as "the greatest Christian missionary since Saint Paul." He traveled among the peoples of the earth, speaking three or more times daily. A heavy correspondence, writing a book every other year and constant personal counseling completed a program that went on 'round the clock, 'round the year and 'round the world—a miracle of physical achievement. The years did not weary him, for he was blessed with physical stamina, mental vigor, and God's grace to sustain him in the rugged schedule he imposed upon himself.

In December 1971, at the age of 88, while leading the Oklahoma Christian Ashram, Brother Stanley suffered a stroke that seriously impaired him physically but not mentally and spiritually. He was severely impaired in his speech, but dictated onto a tape recorder his last book The Divine Yes and in June of 1972 gave moving messages from his wheel chair at the First Christian Ashram World Congress in Jerusalem. He died January 25, 1973 in his beloved India. E. Stanley Jones was truly a "Missionary Extraordinary" to the twentieth century!