Online Letter 151: 13 December 2020

Online Letter 151

13 December 2020

Dear Online Friend(s),

Greetings in the Name of Jesus the Emmanuel, “God with us!”

Earlier I sent a brief “Thank you!” note for your prayers for the Zoom Meeting of 28 November 2020, organized with me by the alumni of the Kariakudi Campus Prayer Fellowship, which I founded under God as I entered the Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering & Technology (ACCET) in Karaikudi for my 5-year B.E. degree course in 1963 at my age of 17. This Fellowship goes on functioning non-stop till now, and it celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2003.  The activities of this Fellowship of collegians include daily evening gathering in the adjacent woods for prayer and Bible meditation, campus evangelism, cottage meetings and weekly evangelistic outreach. Several hundreds of believing Engineers from this Fellowship have gone all over the world as Josephs and Daniels occupying top positions in the Government as well as private sectors. Some have entered fulltime ministry. To God be the glory!

(1) In the said Zoom Meeting, I delivered a 90-minute sermon, titled, “Prayers Answered Differently.” While rejoicing over the renewed interest among God’s people in PRAYER, it’s saddening that most of what’s taught today on this holy exercise is unBiblical, whether through print or on pulpit. Weeds always grow, sometimes more vigorously than the seed of God’s Word, during revival showers. This is an attested fact from Church history. God does always answer  our prayers, but not always as we expect! His answer to our prayers is sometimes, “Yes;” many times, “No;” oftentimes, “Wait;” and most often, “Silence!” With this introduction I briefly expounded 7 Biblical examples of Prayers answered differently, like Peter’s request on the Mount  of Transfiguration (Mk 9; Lk 9), and  Paul’s plea concerning his thorn (2 Cor 12).  I preached  in Tamil interlacing with English words and sentences. This message in video format is attached here from YouTube for your benefit.

(2) Following my sermon in the said Meeting, my latest 416-page book, “Prayer Everyday,” was released by Rt. Rev. Sharma, the Bishop of CSI Vellore Diocese. He is a good friend of mine for several years, who alongwith his wife greatly values my Bible teaching materials. This book of 366 Bible-based daily Prayers is meant to deepen our communion with God. These Prayers correspond to the subjects of the daily Meditations of my 432-page book, Better Everyday, published in 2003, now available in 10 languages. The subjects covered are from Salvation to Second Coming. This book in its entirety is available under the section, “Books & Booklets,” in my website, freely downloadable. The hardcopy (9”x 6”x1”) is priced at Indian Rupees 200/-, plus forwarding charges, available from the address at the foot of this letter. 30% discount allowed for 10 or more copies. An excellent New Year gift for any Christian! Translation underway in Tamil and Hindi. Other language editions would be taken up subsequently.

(3) I preached my first sermon in May 1963 as a teenager. I have been preaching since then, falling in love with the Bible over and over again. With a growing burden to pass on to young preachers what I have learnt as a non-Seminarian, I gathered about 250 of them from all over India in Trichy, Tamilnadu, for a 3-day programme, called, Preach Better Seminar, in 2007. This Seminar in English-Tamil was repeated in Nagpur the next year in English-Hindi. These Talks were released as a 172-page book, titled, “How to Preach Better,” in English and Tamil. Thousands have been blessed through correction and encouragement. In the said Meeting on 28 November the HINDI version was released by Pastor Stanley Manickaraj of the Assemblies of God (AG) Church in Vellore, who is the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Tamilnadu AG. He has a missionary heart especially for North India.  My passionate desire is to gift  this book  to atleast 10,000 Hindi preachers. We cannot bless India without Hindi. This is also available with English and Tamil editions under the “Books & Booklets” colomn in my website, for free downloading. Ask for free copies for you and for distribution. When there’s unction in the pulpit, there will be action in the pew!

(4) As an ardent student of the Bible from 1962, the year of my Rebirth, I wrote down in notebooks and diaries then and there whatever I studied from the Bible. Never did I preach without well-outlined notes. In order to share these meditations and studies with Bible lovers, both as text and in audio-video format, I launched a website in 2002, named StanleyOnBible.com. This is purely a BIBLE STUDY WEBSITE, not meant to promote a ministry or an organisation. Everything in it is FREELY downloadable. No hidden cost. All my books, whether 100 pages or 1000 pages, are available here in English and several vernaculars. This website  is REDESIGNED now to make it more user-friendly. The vision behind this website is “To EDIFY the Body of Christ and to help individual Christians GROW!” There’s provision for free subscription for daily devotionals as text or in audio format, in English and Tamil. You can receive these on your E-mail or WhatsApp. It will be available in Hindi also from January 2021. There are those who call me their Morning Pastor! Visit this pasture once and see! This website will be my “digital headquarters,” even after my Homecall if it precedes the Lord’s Return.

(5) Beginning with 2016, I have been blessing about 1000 friends of mine with a 400-page Gift Diary, dwelling on a specific theme each year. For 2016, it was Second Coming Diary; 2017, Bible Lovers Diary; 2018, Bold Witnesses Diary; 2019, Victorious Christian Diary; and 2020, Another Revival Diary. The theme for the 2021 Diary is “Brotherly Love.We have printed some extra copies. Shall be happy to gift you one if you would use it regularly at least as a notebook for your Bible study. Send your address with telephone number to my e-mail id,  or by WhatsApp to my daughter, Evangeline Jones, 98430 11943, mentioning it’s for a diary. I'm not on WhatsApp.

Before I conclude this letter, I must remind you of my only answer to the oft-repeated question of my beneficiary readers and listeners as to how all these ventures are financed: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, but he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully ... If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?” (2 Cor 9:6; 1 Cor 9:11).

Do forward this Letter to your Christian friends everywhere. Let’s do all that’s possible to bring Christendom back to the Bible!

"Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!" (Lk 2:14)

R. Stanley

Attachments:

  1. Prayers Answered Differently  (YouTube)
  2. Link for StanleyOnBible.com
  3. Covering Letter for 2021 Diary (PDF)

R. Stanley, 13 Church Colony, Vellore 632 006, India
Tel: 00 91 98437 07600, 98430 11943

<stanleyonbible@hotmail.com> <evangeline@stanleyonbible.com>
www.StanleyOnBible.com