Profetiile lui Sundar Singh despre Romania

[deja-vu]

1889 - Born at Rampur, Punjab
1903 - Conversion
1904 - Cast out from home
1905 - Baptised in Simla; begins life as a sadhu
1907 - Works in leprosy hospital at Sabathu
1908 - First visit to Tibet
1909 - Enters Divinity College, Lahore, to train for the ministry
1911 - Hands back his preacher's license; returns to the sadhu's life
1912 - Tours through North India and the Buddhist states of the Himalayas
1918 to 1922 - Travels worldwide
1923 - Turned back from Tibet
1925 to 1927 - Quietly spends time writing
1927 - Sets out for Tibet but returns due to illness
1929 - Attempts to reach Tibet and disappears

Bitter over the death of his mother, Sundar Singh blamed God. The fourteen-year-old boy became vicious toward his Christian teachers. He threw filth on them, mocked their Scriptures, and interrupted classes. Then he made the ultimate gesture of scorn. He bought a Bible from the Christians. Outside his house he built a fire and page by page tore up the Scripture and burnt it. "Although I believed that I had done a very good deed by burning the Bible, I felt unhappy," he said. Within three days Sundar Singh could bear his misery no longer.

(late one night in Dec.1903) After bathing in cold water in preparation for pooja he asked God to appear to him as an avatar. He wanted a divine revelation that would once and for all destroy his doubts and end his despair. For seven hours Sundar Singh prayed. "O God, if there is a God, reveal thyself to me tonight. Otherwise, "I planned to throw myself in front of the train which passed by our house." The next train was due at five o'clock in the morning. This vow was not empty words! Shaped by the disciplined life of a devout Sikh, this strong willed youth meant to do exactly that.

That night as he prayed he became conscious of a light shining in the room. He looked outside to make sure it was not someone shining a light. Gradually the light took the form of a globe of fire and in it he saw the face of Yesu.

Yesu was the last person Sundar was looking for. After all, Yesu was the 'foreign god' of the Christian teachers at his school. A zealous Sikh, Sundar had publicly torn up a portion of the Bible to protest its claims. Amazed that his vision had taken the unexpected form of Yesu, Sundar was convinced in his heart that Yesu was the avatar in whom God reveals Himself.

Did Yesu speak to him? No one knows for sure; however, regardless of the nature of the 'conversation', Sundar threw himself on the ground and surrendered his life to Yesu. A month after he accepted the water diksha of Christ in the year 1905, he took the vow of a sadhu. He gave away his meager possessions, put on a saffron robe and became a barefooted wandering man of God. Among Christians the world over, this barefoot Sadhu was later called the `apostle of the bleeding feet' because the soles of his feet were often covered in bloody blisters.

Sundar Singh, un simplu evanghelist dominat de mandrie?

Gamaliel ne-a avertizat sa fim atenti ca nu cumva sa ne aflam impotrivitori ai lui Dumnezeu atunci cand acuzam pe cineva care e sincer si inocent in ravna sa. Cati oameni au avut parte de asa o celebritate si atatea invitatii sa tina conferinte, iar ei sa aleaga martirajul? Ai mai multa smerenie daca te inghesui sa apari la tot felul de conferinte, emisiuni tv sau la radio, ti se fac osanale in loc sa fii mustrat pt. abateri grave de la dreapta-credinta si canoane, te preocupi doar sa urci in ierarhia bisericeasca sau sa placi oamenilor (de ex. Papei) decat sa placi lui Hristos? Ce folos ca ai primit si studiat dreapta-credinta daca o calci in picioare? Mai bine n-ai fi primit-o si scapai de osanda. Sundar Singh a plecat in graba de acolo unde era adulat si a urcat inca o data Golgota ca sa fie scuipat si ucis in Tibet de dusmanii lui Hristos (care pozeaza in apostoli ai non-violentei)

La Ierusalim a fost invitat de un episcop sa vorbeasca oamenilor in catedrala, iar replica lui a fost: "Am venit la Ierusalim ca sa primesc invatatura, nu ca eu sa invat pe altii" ("I had come to Jerusalem to learn and not to teach")

Prof.Heiler: "Though I had not previously heard of him ... I was convinced of his sincerity, and in the many intimate contacts that I have had with him during the next 17 years I never had cause to change that first impression of his sincerity, truth and humbleness. As the years went by, he grew in world experience and spiritual power, but it was always a wonder to him why God had given him that high calling of witnessing before kings and nations... More than all was he humbly thankful to God for those visions of the unseen world, which were so indelibly imprinted on his memory that he was ever after able to tell in clearcut words the things he had seen and the messages he had heard."

Rev.G.Y.Martyn: "We met about fifty times and had long talks with him. His sermons were inspiring and his parables from nature and from experience were illuminating. He was quite original in his interpretations of the Bible. We found him very humble and shy in recounting his experiences and his visions. His whole attitude was not one of boasting and he never made dogmatic statements.

His book dedication: "With great respect and humility I present this poor offering to my gracious, kind patron and helper, the Most Reverend the Lord Bishop of Calcutta, Dr.J.J.Lefroy, Metropolitan of India and Ceylon." Bishop Lefroy had allowed him to carry on his evangelistic work in his own way though he had not completed his course in the Divinity School in Lahore.

All unknown to him a photographer was called to take his photograph before he left Poona, and he was most unwilling to have it done. He is reported to have said: "Why do you do this? The dust will return to the dust."

A Minister from Berlin came with his two children and requested me that I might ask Sadhu that he would bless both the children. When I spoke about this to Sadhu, he answered: "The hand that once tore the New Testament is not worthy to bless, but I will ask the Lord God that He may bless the children, and then he continued in the German language: God bless you, dear children "

(27.5.1922) "At Copenhagen, the Dowager Empress of Russia, whose son Alexander III and family were killed cruelly in Russia in 1917, asked the Sadhu to come to her castle. He asked why he should specially go to her and was told thar no woman had suffered like her. So he went and she asked him to bless her. As his wont was, he answered that his hand which had once torn up Bible could not bless her; only the pierced hand of Christ could."

Men simply flocked to hear him that he had scarcely time for his meals. I have just received a letter from the Headmistress of a leading preparatory school. She said there was a veil of light on every boy’s face as he left the Sadhu’s meeting. He said a true word when he predicted that America would have no spiritual leaders fifty years hence if she kept up her present pace. He has a practical message for America.

Mr.Frank Buchman of Hartford Theological Seminary, who had traveled for some weeks with the Sadhu wrote: “I agree with the newspaper reporters of America who interviewed him, “Nearer the Christ than any living man we have seen”. The leading papers gave him ample space. His pictures appeared in the movies, and he was able to reach influential and lay circles in the various cities. Disturbed that as a Christian she had never seen a vision of Christ or performed miracles, Corrie Ten Boom asked the Sadhu why. Sundar responded that she was the real miracle. He believed in Christ only after seeing Him. She, on the other hand, had merely heard and believed. He quoted to her Christ's words, "Blessed are those who have not seen but believed."

1924: "In a year some five to six hundred invitations to different countries and places all over the world reach the Sadhu; and sometimes forty to fifty of these happen to be for the same day. So he occasionally teasingly tells his friends to boil down and make soup of him and let everybody have an oportunity of having a spoonful!"

He gave no impression in any way of being sick or exceptional. It was also totally foreign to him to strive after any effect. As he constantly lived in and for his God, he counted men and their judgment unimportant, without wishing to disregard them in any way as brothers and sisters. It may be that many people were attracted (at his preachings in Germany) by the foreign personality in the yellow robe, wearing sandals on bare feet in spite of the winter cold.

(10.6.1926) He said in a letter: "Well, my dearest friend, I don't bother much about this criticism, because God knows that, in spite of my unworthiness and weakness, I have by His grace tried my best to do my part and now let the world and Satan do their part; the result in the end will be quite satisfactory for the glory of God; that is why He permits such things to happen. I know my shortcomings and unworthiness, but it is not hidden, nor will the Heavenly Father allow it to remain unknown, that my whole desire and aim has been to spend the days of my youth for Him and in His name for my fellow beings. I leave the rest in His hands. Now my prayer is that He may allow me to go to Tibet once more, before my departure from this world into His glory."

[deja-vu]

Hristos a inviat!

When Karl Kotthaus, who was skilled in reading people's faces, saw a picture of the Sadhu which was taken by us, he immediately remarked: "This man is quite ready for martyrdom."

Rev.H.Kunick, 1925: "Sundar Singh is a deep, sincere Christian who lives in continuous communion with our Saviour. He is an Asiatic, not a European. This one ought never to forget when judging him. The spiritual life of an Asiatic is not simply the same as that of a European. God's omnipotence, love and care as well as all the promises of our Saviour are taken literally by the Asiatics. It is difficult for the Asiatics to understand that we Europeans, though we are so thorough in other matters, do not take literally the Word of God in our day-to-day life as in the life of the nation, nor live it literally as Sundar Singh does when calling himself publicly a Christian. Sundar Singh connects the name (of Christian) with its action and lives it out... Therefore it is my opinion that there is not much point in exploring psychologically the spiritual life of Sundar Singh and trying to prove anything. Most of such proofs will always miss the mark."

Rev. E.E.Fife, from Ewing Christian High School, Ludhiana, where Sundar Singh received his early education, wrote to Prof. Heiler on 22.1.1925: "I have known Sundar Singh from boyhood as it was to us that he came when he first left his father's house. I well remember the time when, after he had been given poison, he had been cared for in the home of the Rev.P.C.Uppal. He came back to us still weak after what we considered and still consider a marvellous delivrance from death. Since the first day he came to us until the present I have followed his course with the keenest interest. Sundar Singh is a mystic and a saint. He is a sane, truthful, wholesome, thoroughly human man as well - one of the truest it has been my happiness to know." (He was poisoned by his father; later - and amazingly - his father became a Christian. To make amends for his former actions, he paid for Sundar's passage to the West to preach)

Sundar Singh, 1912: "I (finally) came to the monastery of a celebrated Lama. He was the preceptor of the Tashi Lama, who is one degree below the Dalai Lama. I asked the Head Lama if there were in his monastery any book on the life of Christ, because a few years back a Russian named Notevitch had written that he had received a book from one of their Buddhist temples, in which it was stated that Jesus had been to Tibet. He replied: "That is altogether a mistake. There is no such book in any of our libraries. Certainly it is true that a few hundred years ago great preachers came here and converted one of our kings to Christianity, but after his death his successor banished the Christians from the country and from that time until now Christians have no permission to come here". After this I visited several other places, where the people opposed me very much and ordered me to leave. "Otherwise the same treatment - they said - will be given to you as was meted out to Kartar Singh. When he refused to leave, we killed him." On hearing this account I was confounded, because before this no one had heard anything of this unknown martyr. Now I desire to write what they told me about this martyr."

Despre apostazia din Europa si rationalism:

Rotterdam(1922): He became severe and warned Holland: Europe is in danger of becoming more and more indifferent. And yet Europe owes all the blessings of culture, freedom and education to Christianity. Europe is like Judas Iscariot who ate with Christ and then denied Him. But now Europe has also to fear the fate of Judas (it may hang itself on the tree of learning). You have so many privileges. We, in the East, have to give up many things when we become Christians. You do not have to. Be therefore careful that you don't lose your only possibility for eternal happiness."

Sundar Singh despre studiile teologice si discursuri:

In a Confirmation Service he said: "Don't throw bare bones (dogmas) before these young folk but break the bones in order to give them the marrow."

At St. John's College in Lahore he left without completing his theological course. He was fully convinced that in order to be an effective preacher of the Gospel it was not necessary for him to study either in a high school or in a theological college. The only adequate preparation for such work was the study of the Bible and of the Book of Nature under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, who is the Author of both. In his addresses he continually pointed out that human learning was of no avail for our knowledge of God.

After the Sadhu's address on Prayer in Leipzig, the editor of a Church paper denied the evangelical character of the Sadhu's teaching. "He spoke about prayer and introduced his address more or less like this: Most Christians do not know what it is to pray. They think that to pray means to beg. But this is the lowest step of prayer. True, real prayer is union with God."

Urmeaza sentinta teologului evanghelic: "In this doctrine he clashes with Christ who in His teaching about prayer always makes begging an object. The disciple is not above the Master, but in this the Sadhu considers himself above the Master!"

Dr. Van Boetzelaer about Sadhu's visit to Holland: "When we got to know the Sadhu, he seemed to be far less of a heretic than we anticipated after reading the book about him. He assured us that he gave weight to his visions and spiritual experiences only in as far as they coincided with the Bible and that he rejected everything which was not in harmony with the Bible."

Sundar Singh - protestant sau "ecumenist"?

Atitudinea sa fata de secte si cruce, fata de nestorienii care evanghelizasera Tibetul, contrazice teoria ca a fost inregimentat la anglicani:

Christians must tell their experience, their joy that is all…. Sects are strange unnecessary things, the Sadhu thinks. There is one God; why have so many creeds? Piece and quiet come from knowing Christ. Why cause dissension? But still! “This is the world,” he says, resignedly though never without joy. “When all sects are one, it will be world no longer. It will be heaven then”.

There were two sets of critics who viewed with alarm the growing fame and usefulness of Sundar Singh. The Roman Catholics had the firm belief that their own Church was the mother of saints and were troubled when they saw a man of Sundar Singh's spiritual stature appearing in the Protestant Church. The other set of critics were the Protestant Liberals who did not believe in the miraculous element in religion.

The Sadhu prefers speaking in open air. He does not care for buildings, and particularly dislikes Anglican churches, because there are "too many pillars, they come in between me and my hearers".

On March 9, 1920, the Sadhu met and talked for an hour with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the following day he spoke at the Church House, Westminster, to some seven hundred clergy of the Church of England, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and six bishops, probably the first occasion when Churchmen of all shades of opinion met together to well one to whom sect is nothing but Christ is all in all.

The Bishop in Jerusalem asked the Sadhu to preach in the Catedral:
"- Would you object to speaking in a Catholic church?
- Not at all, but there are so many pictures, there would be no room for me"

"As I was going in the direction of the Lake Mansarovar, on the way I saw a stone cross which was set upon a rock. Afterwards I understood from a venerable sage (the Christian Maharishi whom I met here) that when the Nestorians Christians came to preach in Tibet, they had set up that cross here. When I saw this banner of victory in that lonely place, my heart danced with amazing joy and I had the desire to see something more, but when I had wandered all around I was descending the hill with disappointment. I fell down in front of a cave and was surprised to see a venerable man seated there with closed eyes. There was no cloth upon his body, his hair and nails had grown very long. At first on seeing him I was afraid, but when he opened his brilliant eyes and signed to me to be seated, my heart was comforted with the thought: He is not a man to be feared, but he is a true Rishi. He said: "Before we begin to converse together it will be well for us to pray to God." Then raising a book in which the Greek language was written on leather leaves, he began to read. As he was reading, I understood it to be the fifth chapter of St.Matthew's Gospel. Now was my joy inexpressible."

Contactul cu musulmanii (prima calatorie misionara): "He had reached the town of Jalalabad and among that Muslim population his preaching about Jesus, accepted by Islam as one of the prophets, was listened to quietly enough until it became evident that he was being proclaimed as God. Immediately the mood of his listeners changed to open hostility and he was warned that if he did not get out quickly he would be killed." (l-au expediat sa petreaca noaptea in frig, convinsi ca asta il va darama)

He finally said: "It does not matter if I am attacked, even if I am called in Europe an impostor. If through my work only one soul has found God, I shall feel more than rewarded for all my effort. But I can even hope - God be thanked - that more than one soul has been blessed. If these souls have heard and believed the true Gospel, then their salvation cannot be impaired through the attacks made on me. But if these people suffer because the Sadhu is called an impostor, then they have not heard the true Gospel, but they have heard only the Sadhu." There was no bitterness or ill-feelings towards any of the critics who had been so severe on him.

"It is better to burn quickly and melt many souls than to burn slowly and not melt any." - said Sundar Singh about his exhausting style of life and over-work.

Doamne ajuta!