To Online friends: Sep 7, 2015
A Letter to my Online Friends

15 November 2015

Dear Friends,

Loving greetings in Christ’s precious Name!

Several friends keep asking me why I have not sent these newsletters for a long time! Here’s the answer—

A couple of years ago I had been accepting numerous outstation programmes, and there was so much of news about these meetings. Beginning with 2013, as the Lord has guided me, I have drastically cut short my preaching assignments so I can concentrate on writing. If I don’t accept an invitation for preaching, there are several others ready to go there. In India it’s not so about the ministry of writing. Not to boast of, but I’m sorry to say that very few preachers and teachers allot sufficient time for quality writing. Because of the grace and the discipline the Lord has endowed me with for writing, from 1971, I want to spend the rest of my life in writing so I can leave quality literature for the future generations. It’s rewarding (2 Cor 12:14b).

However, if the Lord very specifically guides me, I accept 2 or 3 invitations per year, preferably if they are programmes at the national level. This year I addressed the National Staff Retreat of Campus Crusade for Christ in May, and the Golden Jubilee National Convention of the Indian Evangelical Mission in October. My health also does not permit me for frequent travels. The same is the case with my wife also.

The 4 Talks I delivered in the IEM National Convention, English to Hindi, are available on DVDs. The titles are (1) Why Missionary Work? (2) Revival & Missionary Work (3) Who is a Missionary Christian? (4) Persecution & Missionary Work. A pack of these 4 DVDs costs Rs. 250/-. Available from Indian Evangelical Mission, 38 Langford Road, Bangalore 560 025, Tel: 96119 85885, <scmelmedia@iemoutreach.org>. Watching these DVDs will re-ignite your missionary passion.

As we have come to the end of a year, I have written a “New Year Prayer,” a copy of which is attached herewith in English and in Tamil. Feel free to make xerox copies of the printout to distribute to your friends. Let’s begin the New Year renewing our commitment and dedication.

I’m humbled by the testimonies from the users of my daily devotional, Better Everyday, that the contents are fresh everyday and every year, and prophetic for their lives. This is simply the Lord’s doing. Keep a stock of atleast 10 copies of this 432-page book with you for this Season to give away to friends. It will be a memorable gift for many many years till the Lord returns. The Punjabi translation underway will be the 11th language edition. Price Rs. 150/-. Forwarding extra. 30% discount on bulk orders of 10 or more copies.

I’m sure you are systematic in your daily Bible reading. If you are not using a regular system, you can use my 60-page booklet, “Bible Calendar,” available in English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi & Marathi. You may order 50 or 100 copies for your Christian friends to give away during house visits in this Season. Price Rs. 15/- only. Unless the Word of God is our daily delight we would sink in our problems and struggles.

Praise God for His hand on the production and distribution of my Second Coming Pamphlet, “Are You Ready to Meet Your God?” in 11 Indian and 2 European languages. Nearly 20,00,000 copies have been distributed. We need to reach the remaining Christians of the 3,00,00,000 in India. Have you covered your Church and City?

A couple of months ago the Lord burdened me about the urgent need to tell the non-Christians also that Christ is coming again! In general these people know that Christ came and died. But most of them have no idea that if anyone does not receive Christ as Saviour today, he will have to face Him as the Judge tomorrow. There are simply too many references in the Bible declaring to unbelievers the message of His Second Coming. For example, please do read the following passages: Psalm 2; Mt 24:37-39; Acts 17:29-31; 1 Thess 5:1-6; 2 Pet 3:9,10; Jude 14,15. Keeping this in mind I have now prepared a 4-page tract, titled, “Jesus is coming again!” with a brief and clear message for non- Christians. They can read this in less than two minutes. Attached is a copy for you in English and in Tamil. Other language editions are underway. It’s printed on art paper so it will have a dignified look. A pack of 100 copies is Rs. 100/- only. Forwarding extra. Do order large quantities for saturating your entire city or town with this message through teams of Christians from various Churches. When you distribute any such literature in the month of December, it will be quite acceptable in the context of Christmas. Of course this tract will suit all occasions for Gospel proclamation. Avoid distributing this tract in front of Hindu temples or mosques, during non-Christian festivals, and pilgrim centres. Be wise. For eachlanguage I’ve given a different contact address in order to reduce my load of handling the respondents. In the context of Second Coming, Jesus said, “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in theglory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mk 8:38).

God is burdening us to urgently proclaim this message of the Second Coming of His Son to each of the 120 crores of people in India. But we don’t know how we are going to do it. Tracts on the Second Coming are rare. We need to wait before God so He would empower us for this colossal task. As a first step, shall we gather for a day of prayer, 9 am to 4 pm, on Sunday 21 Feb 2016, in Tiruchy, Tamilnadu? Keep this date free and await further details. Which message is more important to be heralded at this hour than that of Christ’s Return?

Last year we introduced Second Coming T-shirts without collar or pocket. Many are wearing it as bold witnesses. God be praised! This year we have still improved the quality and made the T-shirts as a semi-formal wear with pocket and collar. Attached is an advertisement handbill. Buy them for your family members, choir members, carol parties, youth groups, outreach teams, and so on. Let’s somehow herald the message, “Behold, He comes!”

Some of you might remember my 30-minute DVD message telecast on the Christmas Day of 2008, titled, “Why I follow Christ,” English to Tamil, Tamilan TV. It also includes 2 Tamil songs by Quiet Time Melodies. If you are looking for a Christmas gift to your non- Christian friends and colleagues, this may be ideal. Price Rs. 75/-. Attractive packing. 20% discount if you order 10 or more. You may also arrange with your local cable TV operators to telecast it, at your cost, a number of times during Christmas week. The same message is available as an 8-page tract, titled, “Is Christ Unique?” in English, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. A pack of 100 copies Rs. 150/-. Don’t lose any opportunity to spread the Gospel. Suddenly the doors may be closed.

Praise God for His hand on our Hindi Telecast of “Sound Doctrine.” 100 thirty minute episodes have been telecast so far. The Hindi speaker is Mr. Sudhanshu Kadam, from Nagpur, who presents the lessons on my behalf. The feedback from the viewers in the 12 northern States is encouraging. Pray for the telecast of the remaining 100 episodes. Just to remind you: Each weekly telecast costs us Rs. 25,000/-. I welcome your participation in this venture to bless the Hindi-speaking Christians. (Shubasandesh TV, Thursdays, 9.30 to 10 pm). This is also a missionary work in North India. These lessons in bookform, titled, “Bible Treasures,” in Hindi, are in the typesetting and proofreading stage. Pray for God’s hand on Brother & Sister L. Stephen who are handling this work in Nagpur amidst lot of incoveniences.

You will be delighted to know that we have started recording the “Sound Doctrine” messages in Telugu also. These lessons in bookform, titled, “Bible Treasures” in Telugu, 832 pages, are already published. The Telugu Christian friends can obtain these DVDs from us and arrange for telecasting them at their own cost in whatever channel they desire. I do not want to keep on increasing my financial burden. The DVDs of the first topic, “How not to Repent,” will be ready by December end. Pray for the Telugu speaker from Warangal, Mr. Ramesh Paul, who presents these lessons on my behalf.

Our daughter, Evangeline, conducts Biblical Counselling Workshops, on various topics, every other month, with 10 to 20 participants, in Vellore. Praise God for blessing her humble efforts. She continues her personal counselling ministry on appointment. The counsellees are specifically helped. You may contact her for an appointment at 00 91 98430 11943, 74026 05000, <evangeline@stanleyonbible.com>. Besides her ministry of counselling, she helps me in my literature work also.

I request you to uphold me much in prayer as I’m working on my next book. It’s a collection of 200 of my select Sermon Outlines. The number of pages may come to 1000. It will be titled as “Bible ..........” It will be an asset to Bible lovers and preachers. With my week back I find it difficult at times to sit for long hours. I keep claiming God’s grace and strength. Hopefully this volume will be published in six months’ time.

It was a joy seeing several of you in Vellore on 22 August in the Prayer Programme in which Brother Mohan C. Lazarus led 8,000 to 10,000 Christians in intercession for the Christian Medical Missions started by Missionaries all over India. 1800 believers have joined the Chain Prayer. The Medical Missions and Educational Institutions started in India by the Overseas Missionaries are a great blessing to us. Pray that all these Institutions will maintain their original vision. It’s a shame on us Indian Christians that 900 out of 1200 Christian Hospitals are closed down in India during the last years. Whatever reason we may attribute to it, our sin of prayerlessness is primarily responsible for this condition. Like Nehemiah let’s fast and weep and pray so the closed-down Hospitals may be reopened, and the sick Hopitals among the 300 may be revived (Neh Ch 1). Gather with likeminded believers in your area to intercede before the Throne of God for this crucial matter.

A Tamil Audio CD titled, (= Meaningful Prayers), will be available from the first week of December. It contains 365 short prayers by me on 26 subjects ranging from Salvation to Second Coming. These are prayers I offered at the end of the Telecast of the daily devotionals from “Better Everyday” in Tamil. Price Rs. 50/-. Listening to these prayers, while cooking or driving, will enhance your prayer life. In course of time this collection will come in bookform also.

For over 4 decades I have been introducing and recommending to believers the Study Bibles and Bible Study Aids which are safe and reliable. It’s likely you are one of the beneficiaries of this service. One of the Bible Commentaries I have strongly recommended is the “IVP Bible Background Commentary,” in 2 Volumes as Old Testament and New Testament. I frequently use it. This Commentary gives the cultural background for each verse or passage in the Bible. (Total no. of pages 1650, Hardcover). One set costs Rs.3000/-. Forwarding Rs. 100/-. Contact OM Bookshops or me if you need this valuable aid to your study of the Bible.

Please pray for my fulltime fellow-workers: Evangeline Jones (42), K. Gunasekaran (63), G. Parthiban (42), T. Chinnu (25) and D. Charles (60). I thank God for their dedication and hard work. Mr. Charles is the latest addition. He handles orders, accounts and related works. Please call him at 80984 10991 for your literature needs. I know this faithful brother personally from 1974. My monthly commitment to pay these friends is Rs. 48,000/-. With the annual increment of Rs. 1000/- to each of them, this figure from January will be Rs. 53,000/-. You may consider sending a monthly sponsorship of Rs. 5000/- or whatever, to meet this need. Thank you.

With last month the Lord has enabled me to complete 40 years of fulltime service in His vineyard. The experiences He has led me through, and the lessons He has taught me, are precious. I have shared them appropriately both from the pulpit and in print, especially in my 200-page book, Preachers & People. My testimony at every stage in this amazing journey is from the words of Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:9, “A great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me!” I habitually wait on the Lord and seek His face for (i) a walk that pleases Him, (ii) continous anointing in the ministry, and (iii) His guidance for whatever I must do. Pray for me whenever God reminds you. Thank you.

Decemberis an expensive month for us Christians. Eat well, dress well and enjoy God’s gifts and blessings, but avoid extravagance. Think of the have-nots. That will bring a smile on the God of the poor.

You may forwardthis letterto your Christian friends.I shall be encouraged if you acknowledge thereceiptof this letter.

Do spend a couple of days in December for self-examination and rededication before you enter the New Year.

 

Attachments:

Online Letter in Tamil
Jesus is Coming Again! (English)

Jesus is Coming Again! (Tamil)
New Year Prayer (English)
New Year Prayer (Tamil)
Second Coming T-Shirts

— R. Stanley

 


(For Payments Online: R. STANLEY, Account No. 10545862765, State Bank of India, Branch No. 7274,
Vellore 632 006, Tamilnadu. IFS Code: SBIN 0007274; SW IFT Code: SBININBB473.
Please do inform me with details after any remittance.)