By Asia Samachar | Panjab, India |
“Baari barsi khatan gaya si, roohan khat ke leaeya, sannu Yesu ne, de ke khoon bachaya.”
The ‘boli’ can be heard in almost every house around the Church of Signs and Wonders at Khambra where villagers follow their “young and charismatic” pastor Ankur Yoseph Narula, according to a recent report by the Tribune News Service.
While big churches were a rarity in villages a decade or two ago, the report has suggested that the lucrative and successful ministeries of Doaba’s new age prophets and apostles have led to many villages’ skyline dotted with new church spires. Their roaring success has inspired many to become self-styled pastors.
On December 20, 2022, thousands of followers joined a huge procession taken out through the city on a call by the church. Narula termed it the “biggest Christmas rally” so far. It was just an indication about how people from all religious dispensations in Doaba embracing the Christianity, the report added.
It said among the most popular ministeries in Jalandhar are Narula’s church, the Open Door Church at Khojewal, run by pastor Harpreet Deol and the Church of Glory and Wisdom at Tajpur, run by Bajinder Singh.
The Church of Signs and Wonders at Khambra, which was started only in 2008, has 12 branches in Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Patiala, Kapurthala, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Nadala, Barnala, Bathinda, Moga and New Chandigarh. The church also has branches in West Bengal, Bihar, UP and weekly services are held in London, Toronto, New York, Germany, Birmingham, New Zealand, Dubai, California, Sydney, Melbourne and Surrey. Narula has 1.34 million subscribers on YouTube and 1,11,000 followers on Instagram and Deol has 30.6k followers on Instagram, according to the report.
A controversy erupted at the Tajpur church in September last year when a four-year-old suffering from cancer died during a healing session. The case came to the fore when the girl’s family levelled allegations, according to the TNS report published by The Tribune on Jan 31, 2023.
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We need to do more than get married. We need to update our narratives and get the messages right. We have diverted from the messages of Guru Nanak. We have brought rituals into all aspects of our life. We have stupid rituals of how we move the Granth Sahib. Sprinkling water ahead of it’s path. Carrying on the head. Doing ardas before moving it. No one really understands the messages and how they relate to our lives. We are run by ritualism. We go around making noises about our military traditions and great battle victories and song Raj Kereyga Khalsa while expecting our Hindu and Muslim neighbors to sit quietly take it with a smile on. We have lost it.Our academia have screwed it up. Now we have the Khalistani movement which was used by the Congress Party to demolish the Sikh government and now with have a new idiot in the shape of Amritpal Singh. We need to even update our Rehat Maryada which seems to be abused by this mad bunch. We need a revised Singh Sabha to put our fundamentals right and throw all the nonsensical rituals in the dust bin. We need updated messages and themes that are driven by the values our Gurus wanted in us. They are Sat, Santokh, Vichar, Daya and Sewa. All other rituals built on the history and the the happenings in the state of Punjab should be dispensed with.
*It’s extremely sad situation for our already small population. I think it’s important Sikhi way of life is imparted to the younger generation without elobarating too much about the past which might not interest that age group. Classes to teach turban tying and match making should be conducted more often. The SOUTH INDIANS are very actively conducting match making sessions for their community. I have noticed there are a lot of professionals who are single way past marriage age as they were too busy pursuing their career success. I have friends from that age group who find it odd to look for their better halfs at their age now.*
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