May 8^th, 1963                                           "Proving the Reality of God"                                           Late Mr. N. Daniel

Numbers 27:18,19

"A man in whom the spirit is and lay thine hand upon him." If Joshua had received the Spirit of God, why should there be a public declaration by the high priest, placing his hands upon him? God wanted that to be done. In other words, God had given Joshua authority. How did Joshua come to this place? When Moses first went to Egypt who was he? He was a young man going about to labour for others. When Moses said, "God wants His people to be released" and was talking with Pharaoh, Joshua was surely stirred up. There must have been something special in the parentage of this young man. He began to watch Moses. One day he saw Moses going to Pharaoh and the next day the river Nile was red. Then he saw Egypt full of frogs. It may be only frogs, but it gave reality to religion. Suddenly a man appeared on the scene of their abject slavery and whatever he said came true. Joshua was attracted to him. At a distance he must have followed him and carefully watched him. Perhaps he went near him and ran errands for him.

In the state of Andhra, if you want to serve any man you must first give him a good meal. In the state of Tamilnadu, you must supply idli. Whatever it is, it is service. Joshua must have endeared himself by doing some service. One day he saw terrible rain and hail storm. Well, perhaps religion begins like that- something which looks negative and very destructive.

The Egyptians were blaming Moses, but the Israelites were wondering at the way he was proceeding. If anybody came to talk with Moses, he was very firm: "God’s people are being ill-treated here. Are they condemned for ever to manual labour the whole day long? They have no chance to met their God. They are given something to eat and they work like animals." Moses had a kind of zeal that was infectious and seemed to touch Joshua. If Moses struck the table ten times Joshua would do it at least once. Yes there is God! If there is one man with reality, others will also be drawn into it. In our towns and villages we do not find even a single man growing this way. Boys see no reality in religion.

When I went to Mangalore to preach, I preached to the teachers and preachers. Their faces were blank. I told about the Lord and how His Spirit is working. It did not seem to make any impression on them. It was a place full of darkness. Casting out a few devils gave my preaching some reality. In Erode missionaries themselves did not believe the word of God. When I cast out devils they came to see whether it was true. They never believed that there were devils. Most of our congregation are filled with devils. Christian families are filled with devil-possession. They do not believe the Word. If a real preacher goes they look suspiciously at him. Some praised Sundar Singh for some time, but did they get a true blessing out of his preaching and testimony? No. A man like Sundar Singh should have produced thousands of great prophets. Perhaps a few were raised in North India. But in Andhra some were moved to put on saffron robes like him. With that their religion stopped.

Joshua was watching. He saw reality. There was joy in his heart. After all the stories he had heard about Abraham, Isaac and Joseph, he again saw some reality in this man. Moses was shaking the throne of Egypt. One single man was doing it. He watched him and saw him at prayer. Joshua was drawn to follow him.