Marbaniang, Domenic

DR. KURIEN THOMAS (1922-2000) was a pioneer of the Pentecostal movement in central India. He came to Itarsi, the heart of India, in 1945 and laid the foundation of the Pentecostal Church there. In 1962, he began the Bharosa Bible School which grew on to be known today as Central India Theological Seminary. In 1967, he became the first Chairman of the Fellowship of the Pentecostal Churches in India. Dr. Thomas was a prolific writer in Hindi, English, and Malayalam. He was editor of Satyadoot , a continuing Hindi Christian monthly, and was author of several books. Kurien Thomas: God’s Trailblazer in India and Around the World , written in 1986, was his autobiography. Kurien Thomas was born on 9 January 1922 at Ranny, Kerala, into a Keralite Syrian Orthodox family that traced its origins to the first converts of Thomas the apostle of Christ. In 1939, during a gospel meeting in his village in Kerala in which the renowned Pastor K.E. Abraham ministered, Kurien gave his life to Jesus. Hungr...

"I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." ~ John the Baptist (Mark 1:8) We, in the New Testament era, have the privilege of a blessing that those in the Old didn't have - the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What a Loss if we lose sight of this blessing, to have it and to walk in its fullness everyday! I believe that it is the enemy's no.1 plan to keep Christians from living in the fullness of the Spirit daily. He is not bothered so much with their looking back again and again to the Old Testament and being satisfied only with the waters of the baptism of repentance. But, he would not want Christians to desire the same experience that the early church had in the Book of Acts. The result: a very shallow life of carnality, bondage and lack of freedom. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2Co 3:17 NIV) The Holy Spirit is the greatest blessing of the New Covenant. In fact, He is called the Pr...