Websites that I visit

(I hope this will be beneficial for you)

NT Wright http://www.ntwrightpage.com/
A favorite of the North Delhi Evangelical Graduates Fellowship.
Contains free downloadable audio lectures and articles. If you have a mobile phone with good memory- great!
Specialty: Paul, Jesus (especially the resurrection and the Kingdom of God)
‘world famous’ NT Wright, Bishop of Durham, New Testament Scholar.

Veritas forum http://www.veritas.org/
University events that engage students and faculty in discussions about life's hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all of life.
Free audio lectures. Look for Os Guinness, Vinoth Ramachandra and others

Trinity forum http://www.ttf.org/
Contributing to the transformation and renewal of society through the transformation and renewal of leaders
Article, ‘The paradox of the pursuit of happiness’ and others. Os Guinness is a senior fellow here.


Cambridge papers http://www.jubilee-centre.org/resources.php?catID=1
High quality papers on
‘Does Athens need Jerusalem?..’,:What has the church to do with the state or vice versa
‘The great Commissions’: The great Commission of Matthew 28 and the lesser known but important Commission of Genesis (the Creation Mandate), their relation.
‘Co-belligerence and common grace…’: working with non-Christians for a common political, economic or cultural cause
Also good articles on Genetic engineering, cloning etc by Denis Alexander, the guy who invited our dear friend Samuel to Cambridge University, and many others.

Census http://www.censusindia.gov.in/
Type in the name of your village and see what happens
My village Kikruma has 1202 households with total of 6373 population. Sex ratio is good (957 females per 1000 males) compared to the national average of 933 and a shockingly low Dimapur of 825.

Prayer http://www.24-7prayer.com/
to transform the world through movements and communities of Christ-centred, Mission-minded Prayer

Environment http://www.arocha.org/int-en/index.html
Recommended by Vinoth on his visit to Delhi…a Christian nature conservation organisation… projects are frequently cross-cultural in character, and share a community emphasis, with a focus on science and research, practical conservation and environmental education
CMF http://www.cmf.org.uk/
Christian Medical Fellowship, UK
Resources on abortion, addiction, cloning, AIDS, Death and dying

Bible Maps http://www.bible.ca/maps/
High resolution Bible maps

DoNER http://mdoner.gov.in/
600+ pages NERvision 2020 document. No time to read all? Read the public hearings held in Kohima, Imphal, Aizawl etc in the last pages

Music http://www.playlist.com/
Create a free account and listen online or you can listen to my collection at http://www.playlist.com/user/29097145

Magazine http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/archives.htm
Frontline magazine archive

Indra Vihar, 2008

Praise and Worship

(Praise and Worship, 20/07/2008 DBF North
I led the praise and worship yesterday and this was how it went)

May our worship be acceptable to you, Our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen
Good morning, it’s nice to see all of you. We will be learning about worship and also do so as we worship God this morning. [A follow-up of last Sunday’s worship when I said, “Honestly, I’m annoyed at the way we do worship because we have become addicted to music, and the feelings and the experience that we have missed the meaning of worship in the wider context of our everyday life and refused to commit ourselves to any serious study of the Bible]

Worship is a natural response when we come to know who God is and what He does. If such is not our response, we do not really know him because we cannot adore or worship someone we do not really know.

Worship is not about us (not a favor we do to God)
I’m coming to the heart of worship
And it’s all about you
Heart of Worship

Open the eyes of my Heart
What constitutes worship? The early Church had much freedom of expression, but to avoid disorderliness/chaos in worship, there were some regulations. Corporate worship consisted primarily of the Eucharist- sharing of meal (bread and wine). Also reading of scripture, prayer and intercession, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. But it was all done out of a cheerful heart, out of love and gratitude to God for who he is and what he has done.

Read Rev.4:8-11, 5:9-13
Here, we get a glimpse of worship in heaven. Not only the 4 creatures and the 24 elders, but all the nations of the earth joined in praising and worshipping God. We are not going to be mere spectators but participants in this worship before the throne of God.

Even now, Christians are called to be a community who brings in to the present, a foretaste of what is to come: like the spies who brought the fruits from the Promised Land and they had a foretaste of what they were going to possess.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them singing
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
Be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever
Salvation belongs to our God
There is none like you
Read Psalms 46
There is none like you (repeat)

Worthy, you are worthy
You are worthy of our worship and our praise. Amen

Indra Vihar, 2008

Katie Melua and appreciation of music

I first came across her songs on TV. It was in a Nobel Peace Prize concert or something. She sang two songs of which one was 'I cried for you'. I can't remember the other. I didn't get her surname, so I searched in google and got it. I did not know how to listen to songs online; I think it was in 2004 when I was in final year MBBS. So, I started searching for her cassettes/CDs in the music stores in Imphal. I also searched in Kohima and Delhi, but to my surprise, I have never seen any of her cassette/CD yet. No friend that I asked had heard of her.
On day while playing in my friend Samuel's computer, to my horor, he has the the album 'piece by piece' in his music file. "Hey, you know Katie Melua? how did you find her songs? I have been searching in the music stores for years!" He was also shocked. To him, I was the only friend who knows Katie Melua. He said he got the songs in his hostel in IIT Delhi.

Katie Melua was born in Georgia in the former USSR, now settled in England. Unlike the other popular music stars, she looks decent and grounded. People say she has eyes that can kill, but that doesn't seem to divert her from making serious music. Her spell binding voice, easy flowing lyric and superb piece of musical craftsmanship allow one to enjoy listening at a deep level.

Some of my favourites are 'Nine million Bicycles', 'If you were a sailboat', 'Spider's web', 'piece by piece', 'blame it on the moon', 'I cried for you', 'Shy boy', 'The closest thing to crazy'.

However, it is a sad fact that now, with youtube, playlist, SonyBMG music box, etc and easy copy and paste availability of thousands of songs, our valuation and appreciation of music have been much reduced. I remember how I'd memorise each and every line of entire music albums. It was a joy to read the cassette and CD covers- the names of musicians, lyricists, producers, the thank you notes, and the inspiration behind the songs.

Indra Vihar, 2008