joseph (November 30, 2017)
i have solid evidence. i am from a kerala syrian christian background and did a genetic test in uk with my saliva sample. while uploading my test results to a reliable website which is comparing the south asian ancestry surprisingly i am 50% cochin in jew and 50% gujarati patel. this proves we have jewish ancestry.

a. s. mathew (November 25, 2013)
thepraize: thank you for your thanksgiving wishes. may i wish you and the rest of the readers a very pleasant thanksgiving. i wrote a long comment concerning the "testimony issue" but someway it was missing. one testimony will create another testimony. sharing was a part of the 1st century church; our material assets and personal spiritual experiences must be properly shared with certain order. even in the church and outside the church, an effective and true testimony can create a strong impact upon the audience. in some of the countries where open evangelism is prohibited, personal testimonies are the most effective tool to win others for christ. one example is the revival taking place in iran among the young people. in the college campus, the students are sharing their testimony of transformation of life after meeting jesus in the visions etc. but, in the churches of kerala origin, sad to say that some testimonies are used for personal attacks simply holding the bible.

thepraize (November 24, 2013)
@jc:- thank you sir for your response,appreciated, i always believed that witnessing was meant to reach out to the world and not to be confined within the church,i might be wrong,would appreciate your insights.meanwhile if we miss this week, would like to wish you,asm and all american readers a very happy thanksgiving,please take few minutes to thank the Lord for every single blessing,big or small, we have appropriated through Jesus Christ.Enjoy the bird too :)

Blessings !!!

joy chembakaseri (November 23, 2013)
to THEPRAIZE-- Ofcourse there are many many references in Bible about being a 'WITNESS'--- all we need to do is-- flip the Bible pages.I will certainly get back with you with that reference later, my schedule go little hectic now and that I cannot devote much time to writing. Thank you for responding, when the majority of them read all of these columns and pretend like they didn't see it, you know our malayalee friends are special !!!

thepraize (November 21, 2013)
@asm & jc and all valued respected readers, does the scripture speak on testimony and if does can anybody help me understand the context to which its been referred.

a. s. mathew (November 21, 2013)
Brother A.M. Mathew Jr: That is a great lesson to be learned. When we fail to keep away from those people who are giving us constant pain and tears, whether they are relatives-friends or other spiritual giants, we are making the biggest mistake of life. If somebody is finding fault with us in everything, and they never find anything good is, that shows the constant critique has more fault in his or her life. The devil comes to steal and destroy. He will destroy our peace-joy-health-money and everything.

a.m mathew jr. (November 21, 2013)
We learn something from everyone who passes through our lives.. Some lessons are painful, some are painless.. but, all are priceless.

a. s. mathew (November 21, 2013)
Bro. Tom, Panackal: Great. Such positive thoughts are great for the readers to change their habits and outlook of life! Never seen a time like this with sad faces-fights and discord in the world, also inside the Churches. Friendships and relationships are two way road. If we have a friend or relative, and they are taking our time-money and energy, but they will not do anything in return in their available capacity, finally, we will regret for keeping that relationship. It is better to help some extremely helpless people, we are not giving for their friendship but out of our compassion, and no return is expected. But, return will come from totally unknown resources. " Whatever you have done to the least of my brethren have all done unto me" JESUS said. In our sad predicament, how many relatives and friends will come to help us?

Everybody, please ponder that subject.

a. s. mathew (November 21, 2013)
bro. joy chemabaseri: as i have explained in my previous comments, the testimony session in different churches, based upon the location and the social culture of the believers, that will be entirely different. if we insist on the poor hut inhabitants who are totally illiterate that they should testify only about the miracles and blessings happened in their lives, there won't be any testimony. we are addressing the situation mainly among the wealthy and educated segment of the believers. if one person of a particular church is trying to overtake and monopolize anything, whether it is the testimony or routine prayer, that is not correct. when i visited a church several times, the pastor always asked one person to pray, as if the rest of the believers were ignorant or their mouths sealed with wonder glue. that is pure politics and vested interest to please one person. a lot of age old traditions crept into the worship services need total transformation at present.

tom,panackal (November 21, 2013)
To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived—this is to have succeeded

roy,thiruvalla (November 21, 2013)
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

joy chembakaseri (November 20, 2013)
to bro: a.s.mathew-- peaches to peaches n oranges to oranges and not peaches to oranges! we cannot compare churches in waynad dist or olanpara dist to churches of trivandrum or ernakulam! 'the believers', the society or the atmosphere they are in are quite different in different different places. the style of testimony they make will be based on their literacy and the social habits they are in,for example- in a village church,we would hear many narration about the cultivation and the problems they faced and how god helped them in their need versus in a metropolis we would hear about jobs or businesses they are in and the problems they faced and how god helped them and so on and so forth!my concern is about the misuse of valuable time by one person even with all the education and knowledge he/she has,just because of their old habits,based on the circumstances they were in before! i think 'the deacons' in the church should step in to coach these special brothers/sisters !

a. s. mathew (November 20, 2013)
cotd:2 But in the U.S. Churches, some members will say about their special miracles of healing, divine provision of financial miracles etc, and that can edify the rest of the believers who were going through hard times with identical problems. But in some Kerala Churches (U.S. too), the self-made leaders of every congregation play the upper hand based on their egotism. If that spirit is not checked by the Church, the young generation will get outside. If we are coming to Church to exalt anything for ourselves, our expensive cars-clothings etc, or for grabbing any particular position and status in the Church;

the sweetness of the worship will be gone, but the worship will turn exactly like a routine formality. In the American Churches, they will not put the list of the donors, showing the amount donated every year.

But some of the Kerala Churches shows that on the notice board, so everybody knows about the donation status, even the visitors. Is it Biblical?

a. s. mathew (November 20, 2013)
brother joy chembakaseri: the testimony, whether in the worship or outside, and inside the courthouse has great influence. among the churches in kerala, mainly the pentecostal churches, the marthoma and csi churches had open testimony. among the brethren churches, the elders of the local churches played key roles (now it might have been changed). in small congregation of 20 people, there is plenty of time to share the testimony, but when the congregation is 500, there must be have some time limit, also the the number of people testifying. while attending a church service in west bengal (close to the bhutan area), the believers are absolutely poor-bone and skin-barely have two pair of clothings. when the testimony times was started, the believers began to testify about their pains-stolen goat and chicken-the sickness of their body in detail etc. they were using the worship as a medium of reliving their tensions and pains of life. contd:2

joy chembakaseri (November 20, 2013)
to a.s.mathew-- i am concerned about the rest of ernest believers who wanted to testify in the church and cannot,because of the misuse of time by one believer,more than the preacher's sermon! we all are used to preacher's sermon and has been hearing that very often for years,even though its a necessary requirement every now and then for our edification and rejuvenation of spiritual life! the five minutes that a believer gets to testify in the church is priceless___ ! ofcourse some needs an education how to use time properly in a church or society. this typical brother is only an example, there are many like him! i have noticed the youngsters in the church use this time as a break-time for a recess or rest-room when this brother[sub-inspector,previously mentioned] gets up for testimony, because they at some point got so bored up with it!

a. s. mathew (November 19, 2013)
BROTHER JOY CHEMBAKASERI: Indeed, through the testimony of the believers with their friends-relatives and neighbours, many people are coming to the saving knowledge of CHRIST. But, this "prolonged testimony session" in the worship services undertaken by certain believers will shorten the sermon duration of the Preacher, and many other factors of the service. If there is something very touching to testify, that is fine, which will edify the believers. If the testimony is talking about the dirty details of their sickness, visiting to the doctor-medication taken etc; that will turn like a shocking sermon. If the believers are " properly trained" to testify outside the Church building, that can reach-out many people for CHRIST. For some believers, if they miss the chance to pray one Sunday and repeat the same old "testimony sermon", they are gravely upsetted. The age old format of worship has to be revised based on the current situation of each assembly of worship.

joy chembakaseri (November 18, 2013)
Contd- 1 Finally the last lap of his testimony,his personnel prayer, in front of everybody.The content of the personnel prayer sometimes has some matters which nobody else need to know and should have been kept private.I am not talking about a brother who is illiterate or somebody who hasn't gone to school.This brother is a Sub-Inspector in the Police force.He is a covert from the different society or religion and all of these ACTS are done from his conviction and purity of heart!Its a loosing battle trying to correct him,because he only goes with his conviction,but he is an ardent believer!

Now tell me why the Christian society tries to sectionalize themselves,some times,when needed! Certain habits and behaviors-- never die,it will follow through where ever you go and you inherit that from your previous ??? May be every religion might have similar problems.We just have to live with it !!!

joy chembakaseri (November 18, 2013)
Let me narrate the instance about a brother in our church. This is several years ago and I am narrating this to prove why the Christian Society try to sectionalize themselves sometimes,even though it has no Biblical value to it! When the Priest in the Church while its time for testimony,would announce that its time for testimony and that who ever has come prepared to make a testimony can do so at this time-- this Brother would jump up right away as the first person-- he would start his testimony in a typical-way--- he Start of with a song with his hands clapping as loud as he can{this is unbearable,the sound of music he makes,clapping hands,nobody can be around him at that time and he don't care either},he would sing the whole song,every time{remember there are many to make a testimony and he is holding them,besides the time limitations}then he praise God with his personal "praise n worship", then he Starts his testimony and finally the last lap of his testimony, his-- Contd 1

a. s. mathew (November 16, 2013)
Contd:2 If we attend the worship of the Orthodox Church, more Syriac vocabularies are used there. The word ' Mamodisa" specifically named for infant baptism is Hebrew. There is another story that the Christians were persecuted in Syria; so they migrated to the southern side of India. It is good to learn history, but creating a bone of contention and to elevate certain section of the society in the Christendom is not accomplishing anything. If we are in Christ, we are new creators, and all things are bygone history. However, the human nature is to lean backward on certain things which may not be exactly scriptural. I have seen repeatedly among different denominations talking 'rahuvela" before leaving for marriage functions, which is an Hindu tradition based on astrology and horoscope.

a. s. mathew (November 16, 2013)
The controversy created about the 'Syrian Christians" is a very deep confusing subject. According to the the Jewish historian Josephus, in the BC, from Judea thousands of people were migrated to Egypt-Arabia-Grece and Asian countries, including the southern side of India. St. Thomas, even though he was of doubting nature, but he had another side super adventure while responded to the divine call. He passed through these countries and landed in Cranganoor, then to north Cochin area. He went to Meliapur (Mylapore), then he went to China, came back to Mylapore. The Brahmin community got jealous with him because he was winning the arguments and performed miracles, so they thrown stones at him, and to confirm his death, his body was pierced with a lance. The history tells that the first converts were Brahmins, and he had association with some Royal families. Was he interested only in the conversion of Brahmins? contd:2

roy,thiruvalla (November 16, 2013)
There is no doubt that Syrian Christians are from Brahmin origin. church history is the base . As Apostle Thomas came to India is a fact, Brahmins are also converted to Christianity. No doubt.

premanand (November 16, 2013)
The claim of Syrian Christians that they are the descendants of Brahmins converted by St.thomas is completely baseless. These false and manipulated stories are being circulated to appropriate Brahmin status for Christian converts. There were no Nambudiris in 1st century AD and their arrival in 8th century begins with the introduction of Sanskrit in Kerala dispensing with Vattezhuthu which was in use till then. .

Their claim of Jewish descent is also fallacious, for the very presence of Thomas of Cana is doubted by Church historians. Like the fake Brahmin claim, Jewish claim has been propagated even by some Church establishments. Only the Believers Church has denounced such false claims in its Bulletin. The copper plate granting Thomas of cana certain privileges was also a false propaganda. Historians believe that it was to claim that Christians enjoyed superior caste privileges, a story was circulated about the granting of this plate with a long list of privileges , although

joy chembakaseri (November 1, 2013)
correction-correction--

"bhaaratham ennu keeattaal 'pulakithamaakanam' anndharangham, keeralam ennu keeattaaloo 'choorra' thilakkanam sierakalil"--



please excuse me for not carefully choreographing kumaaranaasan's lines!!!

a. s. mathew (November 1, 2013)
BROTHER JOY CHEMBAKASERI: You are 101% correct.

joy chembakaseri (November 1, 2013)
indiya ennu keeattaal rooamaanjha-pulakitham-maayidanam anndharangham, keralam ennu keeattaloo chooraa thhilakkanamm seirakalil-- kavi-kumaaranaasaan !!! ennu-- njaan njaan njaaan ennaa bhaavam-- etthaannu namukkuu kayyi muthal !

@ a.s.m-- they all are seeing it and reading it-- but they all pretend like they didn't see it! so used to adorning this 'mask' for some time and casting away is not going to be easy on them!how they gonna participate?

njaan njaan njaan ennaa bhavanghaleea-- prraa krrethha yugha mugha cchhaaya kaleea--- !

malayalees are smarrttee-- but ???

a. s. mathew (October 31, 2013)
ROY, THIRUVALLA: Great. GOD is answering prayers. If the readers will participate in writing such subjects like theology-history-devotional-social issues-personal testimony etc, the readership of the Believer's journal can be greatly increased; also we all can be exposed to new information.

roy,thiruvalla (October 30, 2013)
This takes a brief look into the history of conversions to Christianity in Kerala. The Christians of the State can be broadly categorized into three: Syrian Christians who are believed to have been converted from the upper castes (whether such distinction existed at that time is not clear) by Apostle St. Thomas in 1c, Latin Christians who were converted mostly from lower classes by St. Francis Xavier in the 16c and Dalit Christians who were converted in the 19c by the Anglicans and in the 20c by the Catholic denomination of the Syrians. The labels Syrian and Latin came about because of the respective languages that were used in liturgy. (See: Jewish names among Syrian Christians.)

a. s. mathew (October 30, 2013)
KUNJUMON: Happy to read such straight comment. If the readers can write such comments, we can learn a lot of things.

kunjumon (October 30, 2013)
Attempts to prove your fake identity with Jews on the basis of manipulated DNA. Mispairing is the common error in DNA replication.. Mispairing is known as wobble and it often occurs during DNA replication. Why this wicked attempt to steal the identity of Jews and Namboodiris? How can we distort Kerala history? Who were the Jews who married pork-eating Christians before the pre-colonial period? Christians who assembled at the Coonen Cross revolt were all untouchables, mostly mukkuvas. It is like Parayas claiming Jewish and Brahmin origin without any historical, literary, numismatic, cultural or archaeological evidence. All false claims are based on imaginary songs like margamkali pattukal and manipulated family stories like niranam granthavali and ballads etc., – all originated in the 17th century and not in the 1st century when St. Thomas was in Mylapore. .

pentecost directory (May 10, 2012)
Good Article God Bless You

mathews (April 23, 2012)
what a good article.ella journal pravarthakarkum abhinandanangal.kallukadiyum ugran.

thomas vemmelil (April 23, 2012)
What we have seen in Maruppacha is nothing but rubbish!! This is against the Church the New Man which is the body of Christ. In the Church as the New Man there is no room for Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian, slave and freeman. After referring to the New Man in Colossians 3:10, Paul goes on to say in verse 11, "Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman." The word "where" referring to the New Man in verse 10, means in the New Man. There is no natural person in the New Man. Furthermore, there is no possibility, no room, for any natural person.No matter what kind of person we may be, as far as the New Man is concerned, we must regard ourselves as nobodies. In the New Man there is room only for Christ, not for any kind of natural person.

thomas vemmelil (April 23, 2012)
What we have seen in Maruppacha is nothing but rubbish!! This is against the Church the New Man which is the body of Christ. In the Church as the New Man there is no room for Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian, slave and freeman. After referring to the New Man in Colossians 3:10, Paul goes on to say in verse 11, “Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman.� The word “where,� referring to the New Man in verse 10, means in the New Man. There is no natural person in the New Man. Furthermore, there is no possibility, no room, for any natural person.No matter what kind of person we may be, as far as the New Man is concerned, we must regard ourselves as nobodies. In the New Man there is room only for Christ, not for any kind of natural person.

jacob (April 23, 2012)
Excellent article.