A Tyrant (Part 4)

Gad: Greetings beloved pastor. We got news that Nepal is hit by 7.9 Richter scale earthquake. Do not know whether they are able to contact thee. Edna Pandey informed me that all of them are safe and praying together. She was requesting for prayer. It seems it is damaging and repeating. I tried to call many of them but am not able to reach them. Shalom pastor. [Johor, Malaysia; 25 April.]

Elijah: Yes, Gad, pray to Jehovah God of Israel for mercy to preserve all our brethren in Kathmandu and elsewhere in Nepal! You contacting them and panicking could absolutely do nothing to keep them! Learn to trust and rest upon the Almighty God of Creation, Redemption and Providence! We are all praying for all their safety and preservation, not just for your contacting your own mummy and your own kinsmen only! Your request shows how peevish, narrow minded and family centred you are! I would not endorse that at all! Grow up Gad! Shalom my young son! [Andes, NY, USA; 25 April]

Gad: Amen and amen pastor. Thanks for your correction. I pray God help me to grow spiritually and I may trust God and His Providence. Shalom my spiritual father and pastor. [Johor, Malaysia; 25 April]

Gad lives in the Dolakha district of Nepal in a house he built with his own hands (of wood and stone construction). In April 2015, when a massive earthquake struck Nepal claiming 9,000 lives and injuring an additional 22,000, he had many dependents, chief among them being his frail mother, wife and three young children. He assumed at least partial responsibility for his several sisters. Located in a rural and mountainous location, in a strongly Hindu area, his family were very vulnerable and might have suffered greatly in his absence. The earthquake was of such a scale that hundreds of thousands of Nepalese were made homeless and entire villages were destroyed. There were over thirty-eight aftershocks in the following 24hrs of magnitude 4.5M or greater. Hence Gad’s anxiety to know whether Elijah had received news. Whilst the encouragement from Elijah to trust and rest upon the Almighty God of Creation, Redemption and Providence was needful, Elijah’s dismissal and ridicule of Gad’s request was heartless and cruel in the extreme. I cannot help but wonder: had Elijah’s own mother, wife and three children been visiting Dolakha at the time the quake struck and had Elijah requested Gad for information concerning them, would he have been willing for Gad to deny him such information and reprove him for being peevish, narrow minded and family centered? Additionally, is it reasonable for Elijah to say that Gad is unable to help the Nepali brethren and that his advice will only serve to panic them? Who is more able to give practical counsel? A Singaporean who has never set foot in Nepal, or a respected Nepali leader who has extensive local knowledge and understands the context and practicalities of the situation?

Elijah: Gad, I felt you are an ingrate living for your own self and family and never lift an iota of your energy for the pledges you had made to God through Christ. It is most evidently a depiction of your unconverted state. You are bloody ungrateful like most Nepalis beleaguered by financial and family problems because you in your unbelief think that money makes the world go round! You’re bringing damnation to your whole family. Get rid of your residual Hindu mentality lest the fierce wrath of God overtake you and near kinsmen. Repent lest worse repercussions than the recent earthquake brought about, bringing down your whole dwelling! You better contact Micah and see how best you could warn sinners from the wrath to come! [Teaneck, NJ, USA; 21 May 2017]

Gad: Greetings, dear presiding pastor!! I thank thee for thy great love and warning towards this ungrateful bastard. I truly agree with thy warning. I felt there is no place to hide myself before the omniscient God. I pray to Almighty God for deliverance from all kinds of sins. O God in heaven, please change me fully before the wrath of God come upon me, my family and kinsmen. Have mercy upon me and all of us and wash us and cleanse us through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable me to take heed to the warnings and counsel of thy anointed servant. Dear presiding pastor, please pray for my soul that I may not end up in eternal hell fire. I’ll contact our local pastor, Micah Basnet, and do whatever I can do this moment and follow his counsel. Thanking thee again for this great warning given to me. Shalom pastor!! [Dolakha, Nepal; 21 May 2017]

Elijah: May God be merciful to you, Gad! [21 May 2017]

Gad: Amen and amen, dear pastor. [21 May 2017]

Micah: Thank you dear pastor for sending me thy exchanges with Gad Dahal. Pray that we may humble ourselves to pray and seek His face and serve Him diligently. May God forgive our sins and heal our land. I will forward thee the plan of our mission itinerary soon. Thank you for urging us to do the King’s business. Thanks and shalom. [Kathmandu, Nepal; 21 May 2017]

Elijah: Thanks, Micah. I pray God would rescue Gad. Let us pray for a host of other Nepali brethren who have failed to grasp the power of God and the wisdom of God. They have not understood our calling nor our mandate nor our doctrines and wasted the precious resources that God has afforded them so graciously. They are prodigals that need to return home to the Father’s bosom. Shalom, bhai. [21 May 2017]

It is heart-breaking to observe the brutality with which Elijah addresses this meek and self-sacrificial brother. On his return to Nepal, he had many practical issues to address. Whether he lived too much for his own self and family is for God to judge. But Elijah’s principle of neglecting our own families in order to serve the greater family (The Westminster Tradition) is faithless and highly destructive in the long-run. Paul’s instruction to Timothy is clear:

‘But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel‘ (1 Tim 5:8).

So perverse is Elijah’s approach to family problems, that he cited Gad’s labour to provide for his own as a most evident depiction of his unconverted state! Well Gad, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. Scripture says that if you provide not for your own, and specially for those of your own house, you have denied the faith and are worse than an infidel. Elijah says that if you don’t immediately give more priority to his calling and mandate, you not only confirm your unconverted state, but are also bringing damnation to your whole family! Elijah seals his words with a death threat, that if Gad spends more time repairing his house, God’s fierce wrath will break out, overtaking him and his near kinsmen and causing his whole dwelling to collapse. With his kinsmen within?

I do not know exactly what Gad’s pledges to God had been. I do know that Elijah encourages brethren to bind themselves with pledges and vows. They can be made under duress. But what sort of pledges should induce Gad to neglect his family and leave them without father, son and brother in a time of need? The scribes and Pharisees also believed that they were more worthy beneficiaries then men’s earthly families, encouraging whosoever would to neglect their fathers and mothers and give their gifts (Corban) to them instead. ‘Hypocrites,’ Christ called them. ‘Blind leaders of the blind (Matt 14:3-9,14; Mark 7:10-12).’

It sounds very commendable to ‘warn sinners from the wrath to come’, but actually Elijah is not referring to the Great Commission, as he makes clear in his correspondence to Micah. He is referring to his own specific ‘mandate’ and doctrines. He needs zealous and resourceful young men such as Gad to do this. Hence his ‘abrupt burst of exasperation against Gad Dahal in particular and the Nepalis in general for their apathy towards the work of God and indulgence in their own affairs and matters.’

Indulgence? Are these not the words of a tyrant, who cares more for the propagation of his name and ministry than for the wellbeing of those who are beleaguered by financial and family problems? The Nepali are a vexation to Elijah. They are too needy. They are a drain on his resources. He’s looking for articulate young missionaries who can represent him internationally, not beleaguered subsistence farmers who struggle with the nuances of the English language! Are they indulgent? Some of them dwell in tin shacks and subsist virtually on rice. 80% of the Nepali populace are thought to operate without any income, depending purely upon the land for their subsistence. Elijah is a city man. He knows very little about farming and seems not to understand that it is an intensive and time-consuming occupation, which if interrupted at a critical time (such as planting or harvest) can result in the failure of an entire crop. How easy it must be to compose these rebukes from the luxury of suburban New Jersey! I do not doubt but that Jesus Christ shed His blood for Gad and his family. Has Elijah shed even a tear? Is he touched with the feeling of Gad’s infirmities? By Gad’s unserviceable debt and the consequential harassment his family face from the debt collectors in his absence? Was he moved when the family ox, their sole source of milk, was poisoned by neighbouring Hindus? Was he aware that Gad’s youngest daughter could not walk properly and had to be carried to and from school on her father’s back? What is Elijah’s mandate: to break the  bruised reed and quench the smoking flax?

Financial Questions

In July 2015, in response to the earthquake, a general appeal was made to the members of The Westminster Tradition requesting donations. It was worded thus:

‘Out of compassion for our brethren in Nepal, our presiding pastor would like to rally all our brethren in the 127 provinces to offer financial help. Money raised will mainly be to defray costs for strengthening or rebuilding their houses and to purchase food, clothing and medicine. If you like to contribute, please remit your donation to the following bank account by 8 August, 2015 AD.‘

In November 2018, I made an enquiry concerning the use of these donations. I had reason to believe that the proceeds of the appeal had amounted to many tens of thousands of dollars. The reply (January 2019) was as follows:

‘The fund set up to aid the brethren affected by the Nepal Earthquake, and to which you contributed, has not been utilised as yet. We have been waiting for the situation to stabilise as there were prolonged and numerous tremors and aftershocks. We are on course to carry out the rebuilding as plans have been finalised for the work to begin this coming March after the winter when the ground is not so hard.‘

Why wait for the situation to stabilise? Was the appeal not for the purpose of assisting the Nepali brethren in times of great instability? If the earthquake had rendered houses weak or dangerous for habitation, is it fitting to wait almost four years until rebuilding can commence? Is this building project truly a response to the earthquake at all? Why had the finalised plans not been released to the ‘127 provinces’? What was the consultation process and who was involved? Who stands to benefit? What is being rebuilt? The delay in using the funds was attributed to ‘prolonged and numerous tremors and aftershocks.’ But the last significant aftershock (Richter 5M+) was on July 2nd 2015! Aftershocks last weeks, perhaps months, but certainly not years. Also, what of the food, clothing and medicine? What an outcry there would have been had Oxfam or UNESCO declared in their 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 financial statements that they hadn’t utilised any of the earthquake fund, but were still ‘waiting for the situation to stabilise‘! The year-end 2015 Westminster Tradition Treasurers’ Report says the following:

‘A call for financial support was also made to aid our brethren in Nepal who fell victims to the recent earthquake. The response was also overwhelming, but this collection has yet to be expended as the seismic situation in Nepal is still unstable and unpredictable.’

The report announces that ‘Tithes and Offerings collected this year increased by 48% over 2014 to S$267k.‘ Clearly this reflected the additional offerings resulting from the general appeal made in July 2015 [there is an acknowledgment of this in the 2016 financial statement which says: ‘In 2016, Tithes and Offerings fell by 28% over 2015 to SGD193k. The overall drop is due to a special collection totalling SGD64k last year (2015) for our brethren in Nepal who fell victims to earthquakes and for the family of our late Filipino pastor, Asa Inhumang.’] The 2015 report noted that (despite this special collection) cash outflow relating to ‘stipends and charities have significantly dropped by 40%’. Finally it says that ‘the whole year ended with a surplus of S$138k, an increase of 430% over 2014 AD.’ The treasurers speak of presiding pastor’s prudent counsel to reserve this surplus for rainy days ahead. It is incomprehensible to me how in a time of unprecedented difficulty for our Nepali brethren, not a cent was passed to them from the ‘overwhelming’ financial response. It is particularly difficult to understand, because as has already been covered, Elijah (in 2017) rebuked Gad and ‘most Nepalis’ who are beleaguered by financial problems as being ‘bloody ungrateful’ and thinking that money makes the world go round. This whilst he counselled the treasurers to sit on S$64,000, a large portion of which had been specifically donated for their relief.