Rev. J.Thungjamo Lotha
My heart was so much saddened when I saw a news article, titled, “ Rev. Dr. Shishak excommunicated,” that appeared in the website of Kuknalim on September 11 (Tuesday), 2007, My heart was so much saddened because to excommunicate such an anointed and chosen man of God is a great lost to the community that excommunicates him. We have seen how God has been blessing and honouring his ministry. It is needless to say that hundreds and thousands of young people of Northeast India have been greatly blessed by God through his and his wife’s ministry in our land. Our society, indeed, has received a great light through their ministry. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Light of the world (John 8: 12). But He also wants us to be the lights of the world (Matt. 5: 14). In the world of education, Rev. Dr. Tuisem Shishak and his wife Margaret Shishak are lights to our people. For good education is a light to the nation. I should say “good education is a good nation builder.” Rev. Dr. Tuisem Shishak and his wife are great treasured possession of God.
As I read the article of Rev. Dr. Tuisem Shishak, titled, “Tuisem A. Shishak: Confession,” a question came to my mind. The question was, “Can I confess the sins of my people and ask for forgiveness in their behalf as Rev. Dr. Tuisem Shishak did? Rev.Dr. Tuisem Shishak did it because he loved his people. He wants his people to be blessed by God. It is Biblical. Nehemiah, for example, in his prayer of confession mentioned, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God…..I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you” (Neh. 1: 5, 6. NIV). Nehemiah did it because he loved his people. Second question was, can all the Naga tribal church leaders do as Shishak and Nehemiah did? This is the need of the hour. Nagas, so called Christians, have forsaken God who has made us to be “ a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God….who called you (us) out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2: 9 NIV). Forsaking God always results in enmity, perplexity, hatred, social unrest and blood-shed. One may ask a question, ‘does God still love the Nagas? The answer could be ‘yes.’ But we need to respond to His love. That can be done only when we repent of our sins: sin of gluttonism (including power & money), sin of materialism, sin of nominalism (spiritually), sin of worldliness (church leaders are no exception), sin of tribalism, rangeism, villageism, clanism and egoism, sin of self-righteousness, sin of pride, sin of idleness, sin of immorality, sin of idolatry, sin of hatred and killings etc.. With all these sins we cannot seek God. Our Sunday worships services without changing our hearts, our tithes and offerings without changing our hearts may not be acceptable to God because He is holy. What He wants from us is repentance, a genuine repentance, a radical transformation. This is possible when we become and do what God wants us to be and to do.
What is repentance?
Different people define the term ‘repentance’ according to their own understanding of sin and God and context. In our today’s (Naga society) context, if we are to define the term ‘repentance,’ the definition of repentance defined by Cecil Maranville looks good and relevant. Here I quote, “Repentance is a continual turning from a life of evil and disobedience to an obedient way of thinking and living that results in a personal relationship with God and a godly relationship with people.” When our relationship with God is sick, our relationship with others is also sick. This results in enmity. Enmity is always destructive. God does not want us to be destroyed. Hence, we need to repent of our sins and reestablish our relationship with God and with one another..
Now we forsake God. But a time will come when God will forsake us. He will forsake us if we continue in sin. What happened to the people of Israel when they forsook God who liberated them from the Egyptian bondage of slavery and brought them to a promised land? God said to the people of Israel, “Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels” (Hosea 9: 15). When God forsakes us it will be a great dissolution!
Who should be healed first?
The Church should be healed first: The Church, which is the People of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, should stand firm on the truth without being conformed, “…..to the pattern of this world….” (Rom. 12.2 NIV). Pastors, church leaders, including me as a missionary, should be able to say, ‘we are sorry,’ to our people for the present state of our society. We are to say “sorry,’ because, in the first place, we do not preach the Word of God, but preach to be loved by people and to gain favour of the people and try to please some of the influential members in the church to be on our side, and not to be on the side of God! Therefore, before we preach the messages of ‘repentance,’ ‘forgiveness,’ and ‘reconciliation’ to our people, we need to repent of our sins of materialism, self-centeredness, clique, and worldliness. We need to be healed first, before our society is healed.
