Be Faithful Unto Death

 By Al Baker - Posted at Forget None Of His Benefits:

And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death, Revelation 12:11.

The Reverend and Mrs. Thomas Jones of the Welsh Presbyterian Church (also called the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists) in 1841 came to the town of Cherrapunji in Northeast India to plant churches among the Khasis people. The Calvinistic Methodists were a group of believers born from the ministry of George Whitefield, Daniel Rowland, and Howell Harris, powerful Reformed and evangelistic preachers from the Great Awakening of the 18th century. Thomas Jones and his wife faced immediate opposition from this local tribe. In spite, however, of the opposition and lack of interest by the Khasis people, the Joneses persevered by preaching the gospel of grace and calling the people to turn from their idols to serve the true and living God.

Converts to Christ were required to:

—reject completely all traditional religious practices and rituals

—observe faithfully the Lord’s Day by attending church and not doing any work

—gain a growing knowledge of the basic principles of the Christian faith

—live in a manner befitting the gospel.

Local and indigenous elders and deacons who had been well schooled in the Westminster Confession of Faith were required to subscribe fully to all that the Confession taught as the doctrinal standard for their church.

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