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The Byzantine Christian Empire lost what is now Turkey to the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks between 1071 and 1453, with the result that not only the seven important churches mentioned in Revelation 2–3 were lost, but the whole region declined in every way. By contrast, from1517 the Protestant Reformation started to liberate northern Europe from feudalism. Sadly, by the end of the 19th century, Lutheranism had lost Germany to Modernism, paving the way for it to become Nazi—a terror not only to its own inhabitants but also to the world. Similarly Russia, partly due to the other-worldliness of its Orthodox Christianity, was taken over by Communism. Protestant England lost to secularism. Last week a British court ruled against a Christian couple for not giving a single-bed to two homosexual men. For twenty-five years they had observed a practice in their Bed & Breakfast facility of not giving single beds to two people who were not married. The court ruled that running a private business according to one’s moral conscience justifies punishment.  Now, the question is: Will evangelicalism lose America to postmodern paganism? If so, the loss will be America’s and of those parts of the world that look up to America. The loss will not be simply economic or the relative global political stability of the last six decades. The damage will be much deeper. Thirty years ago, Allan Bloom, a Jewish Professor in Chicago, touched on some aspects of the loss in his bestselling book The Closing of the American Mind. Let me paraphrase him in my words before quoting him: If you faced a mountain of puzzle pieces—say the size of the Himalayas—but did not have a picture of what that puzzle was supposed to look like, would you begin assembling that puzzle together? Six hundred years before Christ, the Greeks did make a beginning. It took them a few centuries to conclude that there was no hope of making sense of the puzzle. They replaced philosophy and science with stories and myths — exactly what the West (including America’s neo-evangelicalism), is now doing. No culture can sustain the intergenerational discipline needed to make sense of life and universe unless it has the big picture, the bird’s-eye view, or the world-and-life-view of what that puzzle is supposed to look like. In order to sustain that effort, a culture also needs an intergenerational sense of duty to pursue knowledge.  The medieval and modern West began the intellectual revolution which created our world, because the Bible gave to the West the Creator’s overview of what the whole of reality— that mountain of puzzle pieces—was all about. The biblical worldview was never fully understood. There was always plenty of room for genuine disagreement about where a particular piece actually fits in the puzzle. Nevertheless, the biblical worldview became the West’s soul – its guiding compass. Without its soul, America will lose not just its family and health care but also its science and compassion, liberty and justice, innovation and virtue, music and optimism—all of which arose from the Bible, as is demonstrated by any comparison with a non-Biblical culture (in my new book mentioned below I look at many non-biblical cultures). As James Cameron suggests in his film Avatar, America’s currently dominant non-Biblcal greed-and-unemployment driven economy will turn America into a greater terror to the world than what Hitler could have managed. Bloom was only scratching the surface of the problem when he lamented in the 1970s that by the end of his long career as a professor, he had noticed that students were coming to the university without knowledge of the Bible (the big picture) and, therefore, without an interest in great books, arts, music, science, or wisdom of the West — much of which was related to the Bible and could not be understood without it. Bloom may not have known why Paganism leads to mysticism, not science and knowledge, but intuitively he realized that there was some connection between ignorance of the Bible and the university’s loss of interest in the puzzle of life – in pursuing understanding, wisdom, and virtue: In the United States, practically speaking, the Bible was the only common culture, one that united the simple and the sophisticated, rich and poor, young and old, and—as the very model for a vision of the order of the whole of things, as well as the key to the rest of Western art, the greatest works of which were in one way or another responsive to the Bible—provided access to the seriousness of books. With its gradual and inevitable disappearance, the very idea of such a total book is disappearing. And fathers and mothers have lost the idea that the highest aspiration they might have for their children is for them to be wise—as priests, prophets or philosophers are wise. Specialized competence and success are all that they can imagine. Contrary to what is commonly thought, without the book even the idea of the whole is lost.* [*Allan Bloom,The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987), 58.] Bloom did not experience the full consequences of the loss of the West’s soul, that is, the Bible. George Orwell, who lived through the two World Wars, as did J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, did actually experience those. In 1940, at the height of a war unleashed by an ex-Protestant nation, Orwell wrote, For two hundred years we had sawed and sawed and sawed at the branch we were sitting on. And in the end, much more suddenly than anyone had foreseen, our efforts were rewarded, and down we came. But unfortunately there had been a little mistake: The thing at the bottom was not a bed of roses after all; it was a cesspool full of barbed wire . . . It appears that amputation of the soul isn’t just a simple surgical job, like having your appendix out. The wound has a tendency to go septic. [George Orwell, Notes

Yoga: Seven Paths of Salvation in Hinduism For most of history most people have not needed to stretch their hands, legs, and backs or exercise their hearts. Normal chores of life kept their muscles toned. Other than special groups such as athletes and soldiers, those monks needed to exercise who sat and meditated but did not “work.” Now technology has redefined “normal work.” An increasing number of us just sit to work. To maintain normal health, it has become necessary for us to cultivate the discipline of setting aside time for intentional exercise. A class offers discipline, competent instruction, and stimulating group dynamics. If it is Yoga class, then it also evokes the mystique of learning from ancient, exotic sages who spent years perfecting techniques to tone some of their muscles. What made these sages think that the exercises that were good for their bodies could also lead them to mystical enlightenment? Could secular practitioners who only want physical fitness get pulled into philosophies that promise peace, meaning, purpose, and oneness with the divine Self? My video-lecture  Yoga: Seven Paths of Salvation has now been uploaded on RevelationMovement.com/learn. An introductory, 6-minute version is onYoutube.com/RevelationMovement. Thank you for your prayers and tax-deductible donations that keep us going. We would love to have you as our regular, monthly donor. You can sign up as a regular donor online. Do keep your heart healthy.  Sincerely, Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi

Why Did the Hobbits Have Hope?  Dear Friends,  Evil had become invincible in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. At least, that is what the Wizards’ leader, Saruman, believed. This mighty “man of skill” – for that is what his name means – was convinced that the only sane course was to join the most powerful force on earth. His belief corrupted him. The Hobbits, on the other hand, were unskilled. They were weak and vulnerable. Why did they risk their lives to resist evil? Why did Tolkien believe that evil should be resisted and will be overcome? What were his grounds for hope? Does your culture have such transforming hope? Please share your wisdom with us. Nazism and Communism were overrunning Tolkien’s Europe. Do you think his hope, in the face of such overwhelming evil, came from the Bible? We would love to have you write a 2,000 word essay on The Bible, Literature and Transforming Hope and be one of the ten who will win an all expense paid Literary Tour of England. For details please visit www.RevelationMovement.com . However, if you cannot participate in this competition, you are invited to post you answer to the above question on the Discussion Forum: Go to www.RevelationMovement.com Access – Library Click on Connect Click on Literary Tour And post your answer. In that Discussion Forum you will see that a number of people are engaged in serious discussion on the Bible, Literature and Hope. Here is another question on that Discussion Forum that is waiting for an answer: Was C. S. Lewis an escapist? Commenting on the state of modern English novel, especially after the two World Wars, Terry Eagleton, a renowned English literary critic, in his book “The English Novel: An Introduction” says this: “[The]patrician landscapes as with the whimsical fables of P. G. Wodehouse or the Gothic scenario of Mervyn Peake, are too socially marginal to be much more than splendid curios. Much the same can be said of the fantasy worlds of the Oxford conservative medievalists (Tolkein, C. S. Lewis), natural aristocrats who, unable to see modern democratic life as much more than a dismal decline, took refuge in their own self-enclosed mythological worlds. The notion of a ‘spiritual’, traditional or authentic England underlying the degradations of the modern is inherited in different style by Peter Ackroyd. This mixture of myth, magic, freakishness and social realism has recently staged a momentous come-back with J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. The questions we can discuss are: (1) What social function, if any, does “fantasy” perform? (2) Does it, especially the fiction of Lewis, strengthen democracy? (Question by Dr. Ashish Alexander, posted on the Discussion Forum) Many people are visiting the Discussion Forum as they prepare to write their essays. Your answer will help shape the thinking of aspiring writers who wish to draw inspiration from classic writers such as Tolkien and Lewis and others.  Anyone is welcome to participate in this contest. There is no age limit. You do not have to use Lewis and Tolkien as your literary sources. You can use any writer from any language to illustrate your points. Your essay, however, should be written in English. Essays will not be judged on the merit of your language. The judges will examine your understanding of how the Bible inspired transforming hope in literature. Hundred essayists will win Vishal’s new book The Book That Made Your World: How The Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization to be published by Thomas Nelson in April 2011. Five hundred essayists will win the novel Conspiracy of Calaspia by the Guptara Twins, Suresh and Jyoti. The winners will need to pay the postage for this book. The last date for submitting the essay is March 1, 2011. This is an effort to mentor the next generation of wholesome writers. You can also participate by praying and donating. May you experience the presence and power of God in the New Year.  With best wishes, Vishal & Ruth Mangalwadi

On August 7, 2010, some “devout” Muslims in Badakhshan, Afghanistan dragged 10 Christians out of their vehicle, robbed them and shot them one by one. The victims of this brutal “spirituality” included three women. They were returning from mountainous Nuristan after completing an eye-camp for poor Muslims. The ladies had joined the medical team to make it possible for Muslim women to receive treatment without having to see a male doctor, nurse or translator. They were “guilty” of walking miles and miles in hilly terrain, offering free treatment and surgery to those who suffered from various eye-diseases. The murderers did not blame their victims of converting Muslims, because everyone knew that they did not convert anyone. The Christians were blamed for carrying Persian (Farsi) Bibles! It was their Christ-like, self-sacrificing service that became a serious threat to Islam. I knew two of the victims – Dan Terry and Tom Little. They were the team leaders. Our daughters studied with theirs and for two years our families lived next door. I talked more with Dan because he was more talkative. Dan, 64, first went to serve Afghanistan in 1971, much before the Soviet invasion or the Taliban takeover. Their organization, International Assistance Mission (IAM), was registered with the Afghan government as a Christian group. It had signed the “Principles of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Response Programmes”. One of these “Principles” stipulates that aid will not be used to further a particular political or religious standpoint. IAM was strict about following the “No Preaching” policy. That is why many Muslims invited them to their towns and villages and protected them. The team travelled unarmed and without security. Why would devout Muslims fear such dedicated public servants? Dan explained the puzzle to me: “We do not preach,” he said, “but everyone knows that we serve because we follow Christ. Therefore, many intelligent Afghans come to us privately and say, ‘Our land is under a curse – the curse of Islam. We want freedom to seek truth. But we are kept in bondage at gun-point.’”  Opposition to Truthseeking  So, why does Islam deny individuals the freedom to seek and find truth? It is because Islam is not public truth. It is based on private revelations of an individual and private revelations cannot be cross-examined.  Even though four centuries after Christ, Roman paganism injected intolerance and bigotry into the church, Christianity was able to resist it and institutionalize religious liberty because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a private revelation: It is public truth; many eye-witnesses saw Jesus die for our sin and rise again. But why is Hindutva scared of giving to individuals the freedom to investigate truth and choose their own religious or non-religious beliefs? Why does it see individual liberty as a grave political threat to its existence?  Through an advertisement in Hindustan Times (July 27, 2010, Page 4) the Law Commission of the Government of India has notified the public that it is considering a national legislation on conversion. Some people suspect that the legislation under consideration may be a subtle avatar of the law that was first proposed in late 1970s, during Morarji Desai’s rule, to restrict an Indian individual’s freedom to choose his or her faith. The Commission, however, says that its primary reason for considering this legislation is a formal request by Kerala High Court. The court has found it difficult to resolve divorce cases that involve inter-religious marriages. For example, if a Hindu marries a Muslim, should the divorce be according to Hindu Marriage Act or Muslim Marriage Act? The High Court feels that resolving such cases will be simplified if one of the spouses “legally” converts to another’s faith. The problem is: requiring truth-seekers to file legal papers declaring their new faith will endanger their businesses, inheritance and even life. If a Brahmin woman filed legal papers that she had become a Muslim, Hindutva forces might even start a riot. Kerala High Court’s suggestion then may solve a few technical problems in a private case, but create umpteen public problems.  The Truth Behind Myths So, why is Hindutva so opposed to our religious liberty?  I understood Hindutva’s problem during a winter vacation in Tamil Nadu. We were visiting the world-famous Meenakshi temples in Madurai. Our guide was enjoying lecturing to us, since our host, the principal of a local woman’s college and her daughter, had accompanied my wife, our young (minor) daughters and me. After learning much about the grandeur of ancient Hindu religion, culture and architecture, I asked the guide, “Isn’t this a tantric temple? Isn’t this a platform where sexual orgies would have happened in this holy temple?” The guide blushed and took me away from the ladies. He began to point out the mini erotic sculptures that are easy to miss seeing in that huge temple complex. “This temple had bigger and better erotic sculptures than Khajuraho,” said the guide, “but they have been vandalised and stolen. Yes, that platform is where the priests and royalty had sexual orgies with devadasis (female “slaves of gods”). I left the temple saying to myself, “Indian women have such a strong sense of modesty: how did these brahmacharis (celebate priests) get the women to have sex with them in public?” From Madurai we went to Madras (now Chennai) to see the famous Mylapore temple. Before we got off the bus, the guide told us the story behind the temple: “Shiva and Parvati were sitting here. A peacock came and Parvati got distracted. Shiva was angry and cursed Parvati. Immediately, she became a peacock. She was terrified and began to worship Shivalingam (Shiva’s penis) morning and evening, until Shiva was pleased and turned her back into a woman.” “What a crazy story!” was my spontaneous reaction, “Why would anyone build such a magnificent temple to commemorate such an absurd story?”  It so happened that I was using that winter vacation to read Greek philosopher Plato’s famous book Republic. On the way from Madurai I

Raise a New Generation of Nation-Builders Imagine . . . 100,000 churches in America Invite students to come to Church, Monday to Friday, for 2-4 Years, To get an Accredited, Online A.A. or B.A. in Nation-Building At 1/3 the Cost of a Private College  INTRODUCTION What if students were able to receive A.A. (Associate of Arts) or B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) in Nation-Building through a unique program designed to equip them to think critically about their culture, seek truth, and walk with God as they discover their calling and develop their potential to become servant-leaders in their professions and communities? What if this curriculum were developed by specialists with help from some of the world’s leading thinkers who understand how ideas transform individuals and societies? What if this curriculum were offered largely online and administered by accredited colleges and universities qualifying students to get into technical schools or postgraduate studies almost anywhere in the world. What if local churches served as extension centers for universities, bringing students under the guidance of Academic Pastors and visiting experts? What if they became intentional about developing students’ minds and leadership skills as well as their character and compassion? What if this high-quality degree program were offered for a third of the cost of traditional university degrees, opening the door of college education to multitudes of students who otherwise might be deprived of the opportunity to become the best that they could be? What if every college student was required not only to study, but to serve the broken and needy in his or her community under the supervision of a local church? What if the program encouraged and enabled students to go as student missionaries to another continent for one or more semesters. What would be the long-term impact of such a program on the lives of students, host churches, communities, and the nation? How would America be changed as a new generation of nation-builders begins to exert influence in every sphere of society? Half of America is Protestant, yet the Supreme Court does not have a single Protestant Judge– let alone an evangelical!  Why? Because Pessimistic, Premillinial Dispensationalism decided that we were living in the age of Grace and Spirit, not law. Therefore, evangelical colleges did not even have law faculties during most of the 20th century. Evangelical missiology was not interested in saving America.  At present over 100 Christian colleges are discipling a total of 200,000 students per year. This program would enable American Church to disciple 4.5 million students per year [100,000 churches, enrolling 15 students each for (2 or) 4 years means 100,000 x 15 x 3 = 4,500,000) What would it take to make this dream a reality? Vision To see America renewed as new generations of students become servant leaders with a commitment to see God’s will done in their lives as well as on earth. Plan Need Impact Young people will be equipped to take up responsible roles in their preferred vocations with a view to reforming and building their nation, starting with their families, churches and communities, and ultimately influencing every sphere of society in ways that are consistent with godly character, wisdom, and a biblical worldview. They will then go out to bless all the nations of the earth. Local churches will become primary centers for learning and cultural development where students as well as communities discover transforming truth. As such, the church will regain its God-ordained role as God’s agent in the advancement of His Kingdom. Higher education will be impacted as increasing numbers of students opt out of conventional universities in favor of this program. There are three principal incentives for this decision. First, the program will offer a quality education specifically designed to prepare young people to be nation-builders—to follow Christ in every area of life and society. Second, rather than taking up residence in a university environment marked by hedonism and moral decadence, students will learn in the context of their host families and local churches where character development and principles of biblical self-government will be prioritized. Third, because the degree program will be administered online, tuition fees will be significantly less than those of most conventional residential universities, thus opening the door of access for many not otherwise able to afford a college degree.  Students will come to the participating university campuses for short periods for specific training that cannot be imparted on line or in their local environment. The Nation will be positively impacted as a new generation of Christ-like, courageous, self-governing and self-giving leadership, armed and equipped with secular knowledge and biblical principles for nation-building, assumes responsibility in every area of society.  Project Development Phase 1 – Build a Grassroots Movement Create a virtual community on www.RevelationMovement.com that will mobilize prayer and pledge financial support to sustain a core team devoted to revolutionizing American education. Generate a grassroots movement by establishing Transform America Study Groups (TASGs) and supplying resources for their weekly meetings. Identify competent advisors and stakeholders in several areas, including:  denominational and local churches, higher education, and donors/investors. Solicit their input and involvement. Refine plan and prepare for Phase 2 by beginning work on the curriculum, identifying and preparing selected churches, colleges and universities that will train Academic Pastors and administer the program. Prepare a manual for Academic Pastors Prepare a long-range plan (though 2030).  Frequently Asked Questions:  Q: Why work with local churches? A: The Church’s Founder commissioned her to “Go . . . and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  Since teaching is central to making disciples, education is an inescapable part of the church’s mandate. In the West, education (religious as well as secular) was once exclusively the church’s domain. Martin Luther – a university professor as well as religious and social reformer) urged Christian nobility and merchants to help educate the masses because he felt that his contemporary church (by itself) could not fulfill the divine mandate to educate all. Unfortunately, now public education has become the domain of the state, and secular pluralism has made it impossible for public education to remain faithful to what is true, beautiful, good

Part –I: Thy kingdom come . . . in America Part – II: Your Church Can Disciple America Part – III: A Doable Proposal Part – IV: America’s failed god needs retirement  Last week Ruth and I were on our way to Northfield, MA, to pray with Campus America on D. L. Moody’s campus, now being developed by my prayer-partner Dr. Stan Mattson as the C. S. Lewis College. We were inspired by Trent Sheppard’s powerful book God on Campus (IVP 2009) to pray for the campuses of America. Among other things the book tells the story of how in 1886 a student led prayer conference on that campus began America’s greatest missionary movement. Driving from Boston to Northfield we passed the exit for Harvard University and then stopped in a small town for dinner. The headline in the local newspaper said that the police had busted a prostitution ring. Among those arrested were five prostitutes: Three of whom were “homeless” young women! The newspaper did not say that this homelessness was after more than a trillion dollars spent by American banks and Wall Street corporations such as AIG, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to fight homelessness in America; after secular capitalism’s compassion that sent the world into recession through liberal financing of homes for the homeless; after Wall Street had surrendered completely to secular economists, managers and lawyers that graduated from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford MIT etc. Indeed, America (and the world) needs to save these corrupt financial institutions and corrupting academic institutions: here’s how your church can help save America.  Part II – Your Church Can Disciple America “I feel as if I’m sending my teenage boy to live, not in a college, but in a red-light district,” complained Anne. “But why do you have to send him to that college?” I was curious.  “Well,” answered Anne’s husband, Ted, “my grandfather was one of the founders. He built a steel factory here to supply the railways. He made a small fortune and built our church and that college. He believed that in order to build our nation it was more important to build churches and colleges than to build railways, which would be replaced by another mode of transportation anyway.” “Ted’s father,” added Anne, “was the chairman of the college board when we studied there. He became a pioneer in making our city the Mecca of medical equipment. He wasn’t trained for it, but stumbled into that line after the railways went out of business and steel had no market.” “Anne’s father also served on the college board,” Ted added. “He was a pastor, and the college belonged to our denomination.”  “My parents,” Anne continued the story, “had no problem sending their daughters to the college. All my siblings graduated from there. That’s why we want John to continue our family tradition. The college still has a good reputation, especially in sports . . . but things have also changed.” “Sexual permissiveness is not my primary concern,” Ted said, distancing himself from his wife’s thinking. “We’ve made our mistakes, and the children will make theirs. Hopefully they’ll learn, as did we. I have done stupid things. Anne and I have had our struggles like every other couple, and our failings have hurt our children. They know our weaknesses, but John doesn’t seem to appreciate God’s grace that made it possible for us to repent, forgive, and grow together as a family.”  “Then why are you reluctant to send John there?” Anne asked. “My problem,” Ted explained, “is that the college no longer turns the hearts of the children to their fathers. It undermines the important values of marriage and family. In our day the college promoted missions. Now, legalizing same-sex marriage seems to be the most important mission on campus. I’m not homophobic. My complaint is that the college no longer builds character, virtues and skills that are necessary for succeeding as a family, a business, or a nation.” “John is a born manager—” Anne tried to turn the conversation in a positive direction, but Ted interrupted.  “Management is in his genes. However, my father always said that managerial leadership is not merely talent and skills. It’s also character. Your team, your clients, your church, your family have to be able to trust that you’ll always act in the interest of your common vision and mission; that you’ll put people above profits; that you’ll act justly and love mercy. Your team will follow you if they know that you’re for them. When you have to act against one of them, the rest of the team doesn’t need to know all the reasons; they have to have the confidence that you discipline your subordinates only because you walk the path of righteousness and expect your team to do the same. That’s lovin’ your neighbor as yourself. That’s what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Your team and your community tend to trust you when they know that you are following the Lord with a clean conscience. That’s what made American management so successful and attractive, but these days education discourages children from trusting and following the Lord. No wonder the world is losing its confidence in our banks, institutions, and economy! Our managers are more educated than ever, but colleges no longer care about character. The church does, but the university drives students away from the church.” “That’s the issue,” Anne said, putting the finger on the problem. “It will cost us $100,000 to see John through that college. This money will come from a family trust that Ted’s mother created when John was born. But we’re afraid this money will be spent only to help John lose his faith and the values that have been important to our family and its success. In Africa, $100,000 might see several dozen kids through college. Are we being wise stewards? John’s grandmother was very strict. She never would’ve given her money to send her grandchildren to the red-light district.”  “Surely the professors know,” I said to the couple, “that

Why Are We Backward? Part XIV  Every Indian’s heart should bleed for Kashmir. As I write this article, innocent blood is once again flowing on the streets of Srinagar, taking the total number of casualties (civilian, militants and Forces) to around 80,000 since 1988. Families are desperate: Many had borrowed money to get ready to serve the anticipated 350,000 pilgrims-tourists. They were looking forward to earning honest money, repaying their debts and moving one step FORWARD by investing surplus income in their homes, businesses and state. Instead, the streets are deserted; houseboats are empty; enraged locals are indoors; while a few of their neighbors battle 500,000 Indian soldiers. Everyone is mourning the fact that the state is moving backwards.  In June I was in Srinagar when the current tourist season began. Among other engagements, I gave a lecture at the University’s postgraduate department of Business Management on the question: Does Hindu Capitalism have a Future? Bollywood could have made Kashmir its number one destination for outdoor filming. That alone would have drawn all the capitalists that my students would want to meet. But given what we have done to keep Kashmir backward, Bollywood invests all its black money in Switzerland. In Srinagar, my most moving encounter was with Mr. Verma. I was climbing up the steep steps of the 1000 feet high Shiva Temple – the most spectacular “High Place” in Srinagar. It is called Takht-e-Suleiman (The Throne of Solomon). Mr. Verma, an average, educated businessman was coming down. Yet, he stopped to catch his breath. Clutching his heart with his right hand, he explained his embarrassment: “I do not have one lung. Your lung holds your heart; but my heart is hanging. Therefore, I am not allowed to climb steps. I had to climb this hill because they say that you will not earn all the available merit from this pilgrimage unless you pay homage at this shrine. I want better karma for my next life. Therefore, I had to ignore my cardiologist and take this risk.” I could not help but respect Mr. Verma’s deep devotion. But, to be honest, I was also furious at the myths that enslave our people. Takht-e-Suleiman is magnificent. A revolving restaurant on top along with ski facilities for winter will bring all the tourists Srinagar wants. That brief encounter with Mr. Verma explained why most of the Kashmir Valley had renounced Hinduism and converted to Islam by the 17th century. The Shiva Temple became a side show a century ago when a Muslim shepherd discovered the 60 feet long, 30 feet wide and 15 feet high Amarkantak cave 12,729 feet above sea level. The cave about 86 miles northeast of Srinagar, is now the prime pilgrimage site where our people go to worship the Shiva-lingam (Shiva’s penis), made of natural ice. The penis “pulsates”. Every month it increases and decreases in size, apparently following the monthly cycle of the moon. Why would devotees donate hundreds of millions of rupees annually for the privilege of worshipping a penis, whether made of ice or stone? The power is in the myth.  Lord Shiva is an eternal Brahmachari (celibate) and therefore he does not have a wife. Parvati is his “consort” or sex-partner who helps awaken his enormous sexual energy called Kundalini, symbolized by hooded cobras. Sitting in this cave, Parvati urged Shiva to explain why she had to die while he was immortal (=Amar). Shiva said that the story of immortality is too long. But Parvati sat down, determined to listen. Shiva closed his eyes in meditation and summoned the demon Kalagni Rudra. He ordered the demon to burn up all living things within audible distance to ensure that no one hears the secret of immortality. The story was really long, but Parvati kept saying “hun” (yes) until she fell asleep. A parrot appeared from under Shiva and began to mimic Parvati’s “hun.” When Shiva opened his eyes he asked Parvati if she now knew the secret of immortality. “No,” She said, “I fell asleep.” “Who then was saying ‘hun’?” Shiva was enraged at the prospect that someone mortal may have heard the secret reserved for gods. The parrot realized that he was in trouble and flew off. As Shiva chased the parrot, it found the wife of Vyasdev sitting at the entrance of her cottage with her “mouth” open. The parrot flew into her and she became pregnant. She gave birth to Shukradev who was born with the knowledge of the secret of immortality. The sages gathered around Shukradev, flattered and pressed him to tell them the secret. Once he agreed, the gods became extremely nervous. They urged Shiva to prevent Shukradev from this reckless act of revelation. Shiva too was angry, but how could he kill someone who received the secret of immortality from Shiva himself. The best that Shiva could do was to put a curse: “No one who hears the secret will become immortal. He will only enter Shivlok – the realm of Shiva’s (sexual) bliss.”  I did see the inside of the temple, but decided to sit outside, on the “Throne of Solomon” and meditate as I took in the breath-taking beauty. I didn’t need a guru to explain the myth. The puzzle that I wanted to figure out was: Why is this “High Place” called the Throne of Solomon? It is of course possible that the mountain is named after a local Muslim nobleman called Suleiman. But history records no such nobleman; Also, the High Place has had that name from before Islam came into existence. Is it then possible that some Jews travelled up the Silk Route and settled in that beautiful valley, naming that mountain after one of their most famous kings? Against the commands of God, Solomon had also made shrines for his pagan wives some of whom may have belonged to fertility cults. The theory that some inhabitants of Kashmir were originally Jews is a strong possibility. The Bible records that after Israel split into two nations the ten northern tribes of

35th Wedding Anniversary Reflections on Theistic Evolution  Frank, an intimate American friend, is a brilliant neo-evangelical. He has been trying to evolve my simplistic faith that God made Adam and Eve to a more sophisticated theory of theistic evolution. Why? Because highly respected, born-again, scientists such as Francis Collins advocate the God-directed-gradual-evolution of man from lower species. During a long and lonely flight from Delhi to Los Angeles on June 21, 2010, when I was more or less asleep and trying hard to stop thinking, I told Frank that if he wanted me to follow his “scientific” faith then he had to first convince my wife and my daughters. I was mostly asleep when I heard him trying to convince my wife, who responded to him by saying: Look I don’t know anything about Theistic Evolution. But I’d like to know which god is directing evolution? And why did he stop? I can’t believe that the loving, kind and almighty God of the Bible has been guiding evolution because I don’t see your friend evolving. In fact, sometimes it feels that he may be getting harder to live with. Frank, being a faithful friend, tried to cover me: Your husband must be good at camouflaging his character because I haven’t noticed any devolution.  You’d know better, if you had to live with him. He is not loyal to me. When I say white, he always says black. So what? When both our daughters are also seeing something as white, and he still insists that it is black, then how do you expect me to believe that he is evolving into wisdom? May be he has not evolved as much as you have. But why give up on him? Given enough time he may evolve to a point where he sees things as clearly as you see them. He is a hypocrite. He doesn’t just insist that white is black. He actually thinks that I am stupid because I say white. That really hurts. But how does that make him a hypocrite? Shouldn’t he say black when he sees black? He is a hypocrite because immediately after suggesting that my perception is wrong, (i.e. I am stupid), he goes on to assert that he loves me with all his heart; that I am his sweetheart; that he is totally devoted to me. How could God be evolving a hypocrite? If God was guiding my husband’s evolution, he would be humble. But he insists that he has the authority to say white or black because he is the head of our house. Do your daughters agree with your perception? Absolutely! Just three weeks ago he was on his way to our older daughter’s home in North India. He hadn’t seen two of her four children for two years. Yet, our daughter had to tell him not to come. She is so scared of him. She knows what an insensitive monster he can be. And you know what? Your friend even agreed to cancel his trip. He went only because I told him that he had to go and love his daughter. In the end, of course, she was very pleased that he spent a week with her. So, what’s her problem with him? My daughter’s husband is even more difficult than mine. And she feels so frustrated that her father would support her husband instead of supporting his own flesh and blood. His support for her husband encourages him to be mean to her. Her husband is a pastor but shows no sign of mature leadership. In what way? In everything she has to lead proactively, otherwise nothing gets done. But her husband doesn’t follow her. Frank was lost. He had no clue how to answer. So he turned back to me. His exasperated looks inquired: What do you have to say about your serious character flaws? Yes, I have often been at odds with my beloved women. But today is my 35th wedding anniversary. So, for matrimonial harmony as well as for the sake of intellectual integrity, at least today I have to say white. I have to follow my wife into questioning your theory of God-controlled-and-directed evolution. Don’t be ridiculous, Frank was beginning to lose his patience. Intellectual integrity means following the evidence, not your heart or your love. I’m following my sweetheart because she has described our problem accurately. More than once I have wounded her by insisting that something was black, when it was white. But sometimes she was actually right and the disputed subjected was in fact white even though it took me years to come around to see that her perception was right. In those instances, my poor wife has had to put up with my follies for years; all the time loving me, serving me, and being loyal to me even when I kept arguing that it was black. But your wife is no scientist. She just admitted that she doesn’t even know what Theistic Evolution is. Wait a minute! My wife dived back into the discussion: I don’t know what observing genes taught Francis Collins. But I’ve not only observed my husband for thirty-five years I have endured his foolishness, stubbornness, anger and insensitive tongue. Does that not count as observation of facts? Okay! So what? Those facts make it much easier to believe the Bible that man has fallen – not evolved. Often the forces at work in your friend seem to be demonic, not divine. It is much more rational to believe that the devil has been guiding and directing man’s devolution? Exasperated, Frank turned to me again. Look man (I had to respond even though I was really asleep), my wife has solid grounds for doubting that God is guiding my evolution. Given what your “Evolution” has done to me, God is someone I desperately need. I believe that I am a fallen, not evolving, creature because so often I have to cry out to God for His forgiveness, His grace, His Word, His Spirit and His Church so that I

Obama IS Trapped… But He Can Become a Great President ? Ghana dashed America’s hopes for World Cup! As a disappointed President watched the game last Saturday, his PR team may have breathed a sigh of relief: the loss in football diverted the attention away from the much greater loss of his leadership of the G-20 and G-8 nations. Obama had gone to Canada with great confidence. House and Senate Democrats stayed up the night before his departure finalizing 2,000-page bill to reform America’s financial sector. Media outlets hailed their achievement as Obama’s second biggest legislative success after Health Care Reform. The president looked forward to a triumphant return to sign that bill into law prior to the Fourth of July weekend. The bill is an admission that America’s Secular Capitalism has become a moral-economic mess. Given his falling popularity at home, the President needed the world’s leading economies to endorse his strategy of injecting more money to increase consumption, demand and therefore production. This will stimulate the sluggish economy, create more wealth, increase tax revenues, and (if everything goes well) reduce the deficit. His European allies, however, were already dizzy from gazing into a terrifying abyss. They realize that one wrong pass could send the euro, if not the EU itself, tumbling into the dustbin of history. They are more anxious than Obama to try and prevent the Third Global Depression, after 1873 and 1929-31. Therefore, they could not fathom why President Obama can’t understand that our times call not for more Government spending but for reigning in the political-bureaucratic beast; for tightening the belt; for slashing spending and deficits, if not for also lowering taxes. As a disappointed Obama returned home, he had several reasons to be scared: Obama is strong: he could have borne the insult of a world doubting his ability to understand our economic crisis. The problem is, now his buddies are questioning his intellectual aptitude. They are scared that he might yield to Glen Beck’s Conservatism and abort their opportunity to stimulate the economy, serve the poor and save the planet. Therefore, these compassionate liberals denied their deflated President even a Sabbath rest. The New York Times used Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman to pressure Obama to disregard the world’s economic common sense and find more money for liberals to spend. After all, they sent him to the White House to regulate Wall Street; not to reign in their ambitions to save the world. Obama is trapped: you may disagree with Professor Krugman’s prescription, but you have to concede that his analysis could be correct; we may have entered the first stage of a Depression. A dear friend of mine is 53. He is single, skilled, capable, responsible – and unemployed. His unemployment benefits have been renewed three times. Now he has received the notice that he is no longer eligible for an unemployment check (unless Obama comes through with another stimulus package).  What is Depression? Unemployment, indebtedness, and hopelessness are descriptive words; suicide is an irreversible and tragic end. In my country of India thousands of peasant farmers commit suicide every year. Others sell their children into sexual slavery. Unemployed youth form gangs, if not militias. Ordinary people go rioting and looting. That is economic Depression. Obama cares. He would like to help my unemployed friend. His problem is: how to find the money to help my friend and millions like him? For centuries America’s education, character, work-ethic, inventiveness, entrepreneurship and adventurous spirit generated the wealth that cared for the poor around the world. During the last few decades, America’s secular compassion was also able to care for the poor because it turned Wall Street into history’s greatest gambling casino. First, the casino lured Saudi Sheikhs into paying for America’s poor. They exchanged oil for dollars, but since Islam neither developed modern banking nor a predictable political system, the Sheikhs invested their dollars into the glitter of gambling casinos on Wall Street and the World Trade Center. Al-Qaeda hated this cozy arrangement especially because it was not the free market, but American military that protected the oppressive status-quo in the Middle-East. Easy wealth from the Gulf enabled Americans to reject their own soul – the Bible and the inventive-productive culture it had created. Notions such as “Whoever does not work should not eat” seemed outdated because Casinos make it possible for a few to fan covetousness in many so that they can play golf and eat luxuriously. Why should smart Americans work if the Indians can answer the calls? And why should they sweat, invent and manufacture if others can sweat and make things they need? Why should Americans create the wealth to serve the poor if the Chinese can be conned into investing $650 billion in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae . . . to provide homes to America’s homeless? Prof. Krugman should worry: He is about to lose his most important follower, Barack Obama.  He should be upset because even if Obama remained a believer, come November “stupid” American voters will deprive the President of his legislative power to practice liberal, debt-ridden, Saudi/Chinese-financed compassion.  Obama’s Economic Trap It is sad to see Obama’s supporters, such as Rolling Stone, back-stab him when he needs them the most. They think he is incompetent, while in reality he is trapped on multiple fronts: economically, he is trapped between his buddies who want him to spend more and the voters who no longer trust Government spending. If he follows Krugman he will lose voters: If he loses votes he will lose his buddies. Obama needs the money to spend, but his Financial Regulation Bill is sending a clear message that America’s financial sector is no longer worthy of world’s trust. True, the bill is promising to regulate Wall Street. But the non-western world is already acquainted with corrupt politicians regulating corrupt businessmen. Having outsourced inventing, manufacturing and serving, America has little to sell besides dollars and bonds. But what is a dollar or a Government issued bond? It is a mere piece paper with a promise. Who can trust the

Why Are We Backward? – Part XI Knowing English language can get one a job but the best of English literature can eradicate our backwardness Many Indians think that Shakespeare’s Romeo is like Laila’s Majnu, driven crazy by erotic love (in Greek, a language that distinguishes between different types of “love”, the word for “sexual love” is Eros). The reality is that Shakespeare wrote his play Romeo and Juliet in England at a time when the two major Christian sects, Protestants and Catholics hated each other enough to prevent their children from marrying each other, just like the play’s two warring households in the Italian city, Verona. Juliet enabled Romeo to transform sexual infatuation into Christ-like love (Agape) for her and her household (caste). Their love made it possible for them to lay down their lives for each other and to reconcile their warring castes. Shakespeare states the point of his play in the opening lines: Two households [castes], both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whole misadventured piteous overthrows  Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.  My previous article entitled ‘Backwards Can Be Better than British’ suggested that we are “backward,” in part, because no Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim scholar, religious leader or king loved us enough to make sustained effort to develop our vernaculars. Our religious cultures conspired to ensure that classical languages – Pali, Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian – would be used to exclude us from power that comes from knowledge. During the British era, reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy and rulers such as Lord Macaulay felt that the English language could enrich India’s vernaculars. However, the upper castes who learned English used it to advance their own interests, rather than the interests of the common people. The Bahujan “creamy layer” would do exactly what every other “creamy layer” does unless the spiritual force that reformed Europe and created English language and literature – the force that enabled Romeo to love his enemies (i.e. Juliet’s family) – liberates us from our religious culture of discriminating and disliking people of other traditions and castes. When the Government of Tamil Nadu began erecting along the beautiful Marina Beach in Chennai the statues of the creator of modern Tamil, it honored three Christian missionaries: Italian Jesuit Constanzo Beschi, English Missionaries Bishop Robert Caldwell, and Dr. G. U. Pope and only one Brahmin, Subramanya Bharathi, who renounced his Brahmin identity – just as Romeo renounced his Montague identity, in order to love those considered enemies by his caste. An important question is: Why didn’t English missionaries just teach us English? Why did they take the trouble to develop our languages? Was it just to convert us? If so, wouldn’t the objective of conversion have been served better had they taught our leaders English, hired them in their businesses and institutions and made promotions conditional on conversions? Why did they not do that? Unless we study the Bible and the literature that it shaped, we cannot understand the Agape (divine) love that drove Christian missionaries to serve us, including studying our dialects in order to turn them into literary languages. Their labors made it possible for Hindi, Urdu and Bengali to become national languages of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. As mentioned in the previous article, it is not possible to have a “government of the people, for the people and by the people” unless the language of the people is made the language of learning and governing. Our own religious scholars did not love us enough to take the trouble to do this for us because it is hard labor – especially if the beneficiaries are not even paying the scholars to undertake this trouble.  William Tyndale, who translated and published the first Bible (New Testament) into English, deeply offended the ruling elite. He was taking the very source of their power – knowledge – and giving it to the common man. The rulers convicted him and strangled and burned him at the stake. Yet, Tyndale’s labor created modern English and reformed his nation, including by producing writers such as Shakespeare. These writers were nurtured on Tyndale’s language and the Bible which was incorporated into the Geneva Bible before Shakespeare, and into the King James Bible soon after Shakespeare retired from the Globe Theatre. English speaking missionaries came to India to do for us what our own socio-religious leaders did not do, because the Bible taught them that God is love and that the Divine love (Agape) gives itself sacrificially without conditions and without expectation of reward, simply for our good. The Bible’s most famous verse is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus demonstrated God’s love not simply by serving the poor and the sick who were victims of the beastly kingdoms of this world but most supremely by sacrificing his own life to reconcile God’s enemies – sinners – with God and human enemies with each other: the Jews with non-Jewish Gentiles, Greeks and Barbarians, slaves and free, upper castes and lower castes. In Shakespeare’s hands, Romeo’s love for Juliet grows to become like Christ’s love for us. Romeo’s spiritual transformation happens in the famous Balcony scene, when Juliet says to him that he cannot marry her unless he forsakes his name: that is, his family identity (caste). Nothing else but their names (family identity) separated them from each other, because their family identities had become inextricably intertwined with their hatred for the other family. Romeo agreed that his family was defined and controlled by hatred for Juliet’s family and, therefore, his name (i.e. family’s hatred) would never allow him to marry into her family (caste).  If you study the Bible you would understand that Juliet asked Romeo to do exactly what the Lord