Thursday: College Presidents and Outcasts
WEEK 38
THURSDAY
COLLEGE PRESIDENTS AND OUTCASTS
Acts 5:27-32
We saw yesterday how three college presidents of three great institutions traced their coming to those positions through an initial conversion. We must add two more. The wife of Principal Muherjee of St. Stephen’s College in Delhi was one of the most effective women in northern India. She was led to Christ the same night that Dr. Gideon made his decision. One more: the head of the Saharanpur Theological Seminary in north India made his decision as a student in a similar series. So the heads of five of the most influential Christian institutions in north India all trace the beginnings of their spiritual life and subsequent positions to a simple conversion.
These illustrations are among the educated and influential. Take some simple outcaste Christians and see the same spirit at work. The Arya Samajists, a fanatical Hindu sect, persuaded the grain merchants and shopkeepers not to sell any food to the outcaste Christians or to give them any employment. They picketed the Christians’ homes, not allowing them to get food or employment for six weeks, trying to starve them into signing their names that they were no longer Christians. To this they added threats. The boys and girls in Christian schools gave up a wheat cake from each meal and sent it to feed these picketed Christians. The Aryas tried to drive the pastor away. He would not budge. This all so touched a Hindu member of the legislative council, he told the Hindus that if they didn’t stop this boycott of the Christians, he would undertake a fast to death until they did. They relented and lifted the boycott. The Christians were holding a prayer meeting in thanksgiving for the strength given to them to hold out, when in the semidarkness they heard the flutter of wings, heard it twice. A lantern was brought; no birds were there. They concluded God had sent the Holy Spirit like a dove in approval for their witness. Why not? At any rate the Hindus drove out the Aryas and honored the Christians for their stand.
O Holy Spirit, whether by sound of fluttering wings or by the silent influences within the heart, give your power and approval to me that I may witness faithfully. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I need no sound of fluttering wings; my own heart’s love impels me to share.