Reply to George Joseph Enchakkattil.

My dear Mr. George Joseph,

Thank you for giving me another opportunity to discuss certain points of “Rebellious House”. Although there are areas where we have agreed to disagree, the honorable manner in which you dealt with the subject is commendable. God willing, we will meet in next month and I will be delighted to meet you. Every one has his own faith and belief and that is his cherished possession. Freedom of worship and right to expression are enshrined in our constitution. I honor that view but error is error and if we can take the help of the Holy Bible and think of a correction, I assure you, it will be for the Glory of God.  More over, the theme of the book is to bring the reader closer to Jesus and an eternal friendship with the Holy Spirit, rather than an unknown spirit. If the book could bring one person closer to Jesus by one millimeter, I am prepared to be door-matted by all the people of the world. In that effort if my words were uncharitable please forgive me.

1. Regarding the cross you asked “then what it is”

In Rebellious House I tried to explain “It is the symbol of salvation.  It is the symbol of our victory over Satan.  The cross is sanctified because the blood of our Savior sanctified it.  So we must respect the cross. It is the symbol with which our Lord achieved our salvation.  However, we must not worship the cross because it is not the cross but the Savior who brought us the salvation. We are taught that we shall not worship anything except God.” Page 40.  “The cross is the symbol of suffering; cheerfully suffer for Christ. Cross is the symbol of sacrifice; we should be willing to sacrifice our lives for Christ. All disciples sacrificed their lives for Christ.  However, is it not Jesus who suffered for you? Is it not Jesus who sacrificed his life for you? Is it not the Savior who brought the salvation? Is it not the Victor who defeated the devil and his evil forces?  You worship the cross, as if the cross did all these. Here is the problem.” Page 49.

In spite of that if you want to worship the cross, I will draw your attention to ‘Nimrod’ (Ge.10:8) the grandson of Noah.  He was a great hunter who was killed by a wild boar, at the age of 40 without a child. His wife was a clever woman, who managed to get a child from the Sun-god through an egg and her name was ‘Ishtar’ (Ashtoreth), our Easter and that is how we got the Easter egg. 2500 years Before Christ, the Babylonian people worshipped Easter as ‘queen of heaven’ (Jr. 7:18, 44:18). The Antichoians and Catholics thought it was Mother Mary and they worshipped the queen of heaven.  Her son was a notorious character whose name was Tammuz (Ez: 8:14). The first letter of his name in that language is very similar to‘t’ from which shape, cross was derived.  Those who did not imitate the life of Tammuz, were murdered in‘t’ shaped cross. This is the origin of Cross, Easter and Easter Egg. Unknowingly our people worship and keep these dirty things as tradition! Remember, our forefathers did not say ‘happy easter’ but ‘Sathyamaittum Avan Ooyarth Ezhunettu’. They were Orthodox. When Constantine encouraged Christianity, it was with an ulterior motive to win all the wars with the help of powerful christens holed out of fear of persecution and death.  Being a Sun worshipper himself, he used the cross to please his Tammuz; of course his mother was a Christian. He could pass on all these ignoble things together with loot from Babylon, to the adjacent Antiochians. They were happy to receive several temples together with idols because they were made out of gold and silver.  In turn they passed on to us, a legacy of the system of idol worship.  Our Lord was condemned to be crucified on an ignoble cross to disgrace him. ‘Athinale raksha undai’illa. Jesus secured salvation by his supreme sacrifice. Act: 4:12.  We break the law: 1. ‘You shall not have any other God.’ 2. You shall not make an idol; it is in the shape of  Tammuz’s first letter. 3. You shall not bow.  4. You shall not worship. 5. You shall not misuse my name.  Even now if you think that the cross is to be worshipped, you have freedom but I will be sad.

2. From innumerable mouths of eminent Keralites, priests and bishops  I have heard Mary Magdalene as a prostitute. When I tried to explain that she was possessed by seven demons and cannot function as a prostitute, they advised me to read the Bible but they knew not were in the Bible.  So all the references are brought before you and requested to re-consider.  Now you are telling that she is a saint and intercessor. You have forgotten there is an epic called “Magdalana Mariam” Katha prasangam held in several churches, whose theme is not even remotely connected to Mary Magdalene. Do you mean to say that on the one hand we ridicule her as a prostitute and on the other hand we intercede with her as a saint?  Again, we are not supposed to use her as a medium for intercession. Other than the living people, there are only two intercessors according to the Bible.  1) Jesus. Heb: 7:25.  2. Holy Spirit. Ro: 8:26. Other persons are forbidden. As regards Tamar’s house and Hosea, we have no problem, it is part of God’s mega serial; but the agreement between a prostitute and her client, father-in-law, for her wages for prostitution, should not have been brought to equate the agreement between our saintly bride and bridegroom on the day of their holy matrimony. If you think it is very necessary, I will be sad.

3. When we beat the trumpet that we are the children of St. Thomas, it is more than a fact. Let it be so. Our spiritual blood belongs to St. Thomas and we are proud of that. But when we write in the column ‘son of…’ if we write some other name it is bad. Anything that keeps us away from Jesus is treated as taboo in Rebellious House vs Spiritual House.  If my word happened to be inconsiderate, forgive me. My humble request is, please try to see the road blocks to salvation in the light of my feeble torch.

Warm Regards in Lord,

A V Thomas